Principles of Management Final Exam

Amanda, the sales manager at an e-commerce fashion site, decides the annual, monthly, and weekly targets of all the salespersons in the company. She sets these targets in such a way that the salespersons work toward achieving the organizational goals. In this scenario, which of the following management functions does Amanda perform?

Planning

In the context of the skills that good managers should possess, which of the following statements is true of managers with a motivation to manage?

Select one:

Mangers with a strong motivation to manage are rated as better managers by their employees.

Aaron, the chief executive officer of Periwinkle Inc., often sits on the boards of other companies to share viewpoints on business operations. In this case, which of the following managerial roles does Aaron perform?

The liaison role

Jandes, a daily newspaper, follows a formal structure with little flexibility. The team managers of the company are required to ensure that their team members arrive at work by 9 a.m. every day. All the employees are required to stay for a minimum of 45 hours in office per week. This scenario best illustrates Jandes's _____.

organizational culture

According to bureaucratic management, _____ should supervise an organization to reduce favoritism.

Professional Managers

_____ are groups of concerned citizens who band together to try to influence the business practices of specific industries, businesses, and professions.

Advocacy Groups

Johnson has a quick temper and is known to shout at his coworkers when they try to talk to him. In the context of workplace deviance, this is an example of _____.

personal aggression

A team leader is responsible for:

fostering good relationships within his or her team.

According to Henri Fayol's principles of management, which of the following is true of unity of direction?

One person and one plan should be used in deciding the activities to be carried out.

_____ developed the 14 principles of management.

Henri Fayol

Benjamin saw one of his colleagues stealing office supplies while all the other employees had gone for lunch. He immediately reported the incident to his supervisor. Benjamin's action is an example of _____.

whistle-blowing

Which of the following is a similarity between political deviance and personal aggression?

Both involve harming coworkers

Technical skills are more important for top managers and middle managers than they are for lower-level managers.

False

When workers deliberately slow their pace or restrict their work output, it is known as _____.

Soldiering

Which of the following is true of business confidence indices?

They show how sure actual managers are about future business growth

Environmental uncertainty in an organization is high when:

environmental change is extensive

Managers often do a poor job of identifying potential competitors because they tend to focus on only two or three well-known competitors with similar goals and resources.

True

Maureen, the owner of a boutique, studies the spending pattern and consumer behavior of the people in the area in which her store is located. She estimates the likely variations in demand and pricing and also keeps track of her competitors' sales. Which of the following concepts does this scenario best illustrate?

Environmental Scanning

Which of the following statements is true of Mary Parker Follett?

She believed that giving orders involves discussing instructions and dealing with resentment.

Businesses have always looked for information technologies that would speed access to timely information.

True

In the context of the kinds of managers, middle managers:

are responsible for planning and allocating resources to meet organizational objectives.

Andy works at a shoe manufacturing plant. He has a nine-hour daily shift in the factory. However, he only works for six hours and tells his supervisor that he has worked for nine hours. In the context of workplace deviance, this is an example of _____.

production deviance

The managers at Alpha Corp. are closely observing trends in the industry. They are trying to identify factors that might have a significant influence on Alpha's business operations. Which of the following concepts is illustrated in the scenario?

environmental scanning

Reactive customer monitoring involves identifying and addressing customer needs, trends, and issues before they occur.

False

Trey Tires is going to merge with Big Spokes, and the merger will result in layoffs. As a result, the workers are not happy. They start doing less work and waste their time by taking frequent breaks. In the context of scientific management, this behavior of the workers is known as _____.

soldiering

Unlike a monarchy, the aim of bureaucracy is to:

achieve an organization's goals in the most efficient way possible.

Which of the following best defines scientific management?

It is the thorough studying and testing of different work methods to identify the best, most efficient way to complete a job.

According to the elements of bureaucratic organizations, which of the following should be a criterion for promoting employees?

Experience or achievement

The Hawthorne Studies showed that _____.

work performance is affected by group dynamics

In the context of the mistakes managers make which of the following is a difference between arrivers and derailers?

Unlike arrivers derailers are managers who are successful early in their careers but are knocked off the fast track by the time they reach the middle to upper levels of management.

Kevin owns a restaurant. He does not hire or dismiss his employees and has a dedicated team that handles the hiring of chefs and other workers. Tasks and responsibilities of every employee are well defined and documented. Based on the given information, Kevin's restaurant is a _____.

bureaucratic organization

Which of the following is a difference between property deviance and production deviance?

Property deviance affects company possessions and products, whereas production deviance affects the quality of work produced.

Benjamin steals lunch from his coworkers and shouts and throws tantrums when confronted about this. In the context of workplace deviance, this is an example of _____.

personal aggression

Helene, a senior manager of an accounting firm, replaces a few of the company's existing processes and policies. Instead of the flexible nine-hour work plan, she makes it mandatory for all employees to work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. In this scenario, Helene is most likely using _____.

behavioral substitution

In the context of management functions, which of the following is true of planning?

It is one of the best ways to improve performance.

In the context of scientific management, who among the following is a rate buster?

Jasmine, who completes her work before its due date

According to Mary Parker Follett, in the context of constructive conflict and coordination, _____ involves invention.

integration

The _____ holds that an individual should never do anything that is not honest, open, and truthful and that he or she would not be glad to see reported in the newspapers or on television.

principle of personal virtue

Jenna occasionally steals office supplies from her workplace when her workplace is empty. She was diagnosed with kleptomania and was fired from her last job when she was caught stealing. In the context of workplace deviance, this is an example of _____.

property deviance

After Hayworth Publishers realized that it was incurring losses, it set new objectives. These objectives were to increase revenues by at least five percent and reduce net losses by at least 80 percent by the end of the next fiscal year. In this scenario, which of the following management functions was most likely involved in setting these goals and determining a means for the company to meet them?

Planning

Which of the following exemplifies a political/legal trend in the general organizational environments?

Regulations concerning the disposal of biological wastes

A(n) _____ is a group member whose work pace is significantly faster than the normal pace in his or her group.

rate buster

For a code of ethics to encourage ethical decision making and behavior in a company, _____.

the management must develop practical ethical standards and procedures specific to the company's line of business

Ednus, a fashion magazine, plans to acquire Hazemens, a women's magazine. When Derick, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Hazemens, visits Ednus's office to discuss the terms of the acquisition, Charlotte, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ednus, personally greets him upon his arrival. In the context of managerial roles, which of the following roles does Charlotte illustrate in this scenario?

Figurehead role

The Hawthorne Studies showed how _____ can influence work.

worker's feelings

One of the objectives of the motion study conducted by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth was to:

improve the productivity of workers.

After graduating from one of the highest-ranked business schools in the world, Alfred was hired as a divisional marketing manager at a computer hardware company. His job profile included planning the marketing activities for the next fiscal year, allocating funds, and overlooking the performance of marketing representatives. In the given scenario, Alfred was most likely hired as a _____.

middle manager

Jenny is a manager at a marketing firm. She refuses to promote the hardest working salesperson in the company because she does not like that employee. In the context of workplace deviance, this is an example of _____.

political deviance

_____ involves identifying and addressing customer needs, trends, and issues before they occur.

Proactive monitoring of customers

Which of the following is an objective of ethics training programs for employees?

To achieve credibility with employees

In an organization, _____ are responsible for the creation of tactical plans.

middle managers

Which of the following statements is true of resistance to change?

It decreases when change efforts receive significant managerial support.

In the context of rational decision making, which of the following is a difference between absolute comparisons and relative comparisons?

Unlike in absolute comparisons, in relative comparisons each criterion is compared directly with every other criterion.

Unlike the distinctive competencies of a company, the core capabilities of a company:

determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs.

In the context of the BCG matrix, which of the following businesses would be classified as a question mark?

RainTech, an electronics company that is struggling for market share in a fast-growing industry

In the context of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix, unlike cash cows, dogs have:

a small share of a slow-growing market.

In the context of the BCG matrix, which of the following businesses would be classified as a star?

PrimeSmart, a smartphone manufacturer that is the market leader in a rapidly growing industry

A _____ is a type of operational plan that saves managers' time because once the plan is created, it can be used repeatedly to handle frequently recurring events.

standing plan

Growth, stability, and retrenchment are all types of portfolio strategies that companies use to decide which businesses they should be in.

False

_____ are defined as a cushion of extra resources that can be used with options-based planning to adapt to unanticipated changes, problems, or opportunities.

Slack resources

Cassie runs a cake shop. Her primary goal is to set up the largest chain of cake shops in the city. Apart from this goal, another goal of Cassie's is to sell 400 cakes in December. In this scenario, Cassie's goal of selling 400 cakes in December is an example of a _____.

proximal goal

An organization's _____ is defined as a more specific goal than the organization's purpose that unifies company-wide efforts, stretches and challenges the organization, and possesses a finish line and a time frame.

strategic objective

Arboral Inc., an auto manufacturing company, has been extremely successful in its home country. In an attempt to increase its profitability, it has opened up new manufacturing plants and showrooms in three more countries. Which of the following grand strategies was used by Arboral in this scenario?

The growth strategy

If companies focus too much on local adaptation, they run the risk of:

losing the cost effectiveness and productivity that result from using standardized rules and procedures throughout the world.

A competitive advantage becomes a sustainable competitive advantage when other companies start duplicating the value a firm is providing to customers.

False

Autowizic Inc., an automobile manufacturing company, plans to move its operations to a different city by the end of the year. It sets a target of moving one department by the end of each month, so that all the departments can be moved within a year. In this scenario, Autowizic's plan of moving its operations to a different city by the end of the year is an example of a _____.

distal goal

In the context of the BCG matrix, which of the following businesses would be classified as a dog?

Bigs Steel, a metal manufacturer that has negligible market share in a slow-growing industry

Celvokay, a company that manufactures cell phones and cell phone accessories, has launched a new cell phone that comes along with a new model of earphones with the noise-cancellation feature. These earphones are designed such that they can also be used with the older models of Celvokay's phones. Which of the following conceptsdoes this scenario best illustrate?

Generational change

A drawback of planning is that it:

causes detachment, which leads planners to plan for things they do not understand.

In the context of structured conflict, which of the following is a difference between the devil's advocacy approach and dialectical inquiry?

The devil's advocacy approach involves assigning an individual the role of critic, whereas dialectical inquiry involves generation of a solution that is the opposite of a proposed solution.

In the context of brainstorming, _____ is the fear of what others will think of one's ideas.

evaluation apprehension

_____ are defined as nontax methods of increasing the cost or reducing the volume of imported goods.

Nontariff barriers

Unlike nontariff barriers, tariffs _____.

are direct taxes on imported goods

In the context of decision making, a _____ is a gap between a desired state and an existing state.

problem

Flywater Inc. is refusing to expand its global operations into North Marland due to the civil wars that frequently occur in the country. This threat of civil wars in the country is an example of _____.

political uncertainty

Management by objectives is a management technique often used by middle managers to develop and carry out _____.

tactical plans

The most popular approach to increase goal commitment is to:

encourage employee participation while setting goals.

Which of the following is a disadvantage of electronic brainstorming?

Outgoing individuals can find it difficult to express themselves in writing.

In the context of organizational development, the purpose of small-group interventions is to:

assess how a group functions and help it work more effectively to accomplish its goals.

Which of the following is one of the five industry forces identified by Harvard professor Michael Porter?

The threat of new entrants

Which of the following best defines a SWOT analysis?

It involves assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment.

In the context of the planning process, which of the following is most likely to be useful when conceived goals turn out not to be achievable?

Maintaining flexibility when making plans

The threat of new entrants is a measure of the degree to which barriers to entry make it easy or difficult for new companies to get started in an industry.

True

Amy, the chief operations officer of a company that manufactures baby products, formulates a plan on how the company's newly launched products will serve its wide customer base and how it will deal with its competitors. In this scenario, Amy has most likely contributed to developing the company's _____.

strategic plan

Chester, the operations manager at a chemical manufacturing company, finds that the air pollutants released by the company have become very high. To arrive at a decision to resolve the issue, he defines the problem and then identifies decision criteria. In the context of rational decision making, which of the following is the next step that Chester should ideally take?

Weighing the decision criteria

In the context of maintaining flexibility while planning, unlike traditional planning, options-based planning:

involves maintaining slack resources.

Clarespharm, a pharmaceutical company, wants to be the market leader in the country of Jefnamia by the end of the next fiscal year. To start working toward this goal, the marketing department of Clarespharm sets targets for the marketing teams. Which of the following is ideally the next step for achieving Clarespharm's goal to be the market leader?

Developing commitment to the goal

In the context of group decision making, which of the following is a difference between the nominal group technique (NGT) and the Delphi technique?

Unlike the NGT, the Delphi technique involves creating a series of open-ended questions for group members.

In an organization, _____ are responsible for developing and carrying out operational plans.

lower-level managers

Alice, a reporter at a daily newspaper, is given a low performance rating because she has not been meeting productivity requirements. She is personally affected by the low rating and gets into an argument with her manager. In this scenario, the disagreements between Alice and her supervisor can best be classified as _____.

a-type conflict

In the context of managing organizational change, which of the following is a difference between unfreezing and refreezing?

Unfreezingis getting the people affected by change to believe that change is needed, whereasrefreezingis supporting and reinforcing the new changes so that they stick.

In the context of managing innovation, identify a difference between the experiential approach and the compression approach.

The general strategy in the experiential approach is to build something new, different, and substantially better, whereas the general strategy in the compression approach is to reduce the time and steps to make small, consistent improvements in performance and functionality.

Claire is a manager at an information technology (IT) firm. She notices a consistent drop in the productivity of her employees. She is not able to find the reason behind this drop. In the context of rational decision making, which of the following steps should Claire take first?

Defining the problem

Robert has a list of characteristics that he wants his new house to have, and he has listed every item in that list in their order of importance to him. Among the items on his list, the proximity to a bus stop has the highest priority as it is his primary means of commuting, and the street name has the lowest priority. In this scenario, Robert is using _____ to make a rational decision.

relative comparisons

In the context of the BCG matrix, which of the following businesses would be classified as a cash cow?

HappyTot, a children's toy company that has been earning steady profits in a slow-growing industry

The government of Diamza recently passed a law making it mandatory for any foreign company that wants to do business in its country to only use raw materials made in Diamza and only hire citizens. This is a type of _____ faced by companies that want to conduct business in Diamza.

policy uncertainty

In the context of using groups to improve decision making, which of the following is a difference between c-type conflict and a-type conflict?

Unlike c-type conflict, a-type conflict often results in anger and resentment.

Which of the following is a decision-making method that can be used to create c-type conflict by assigning an individual or a subgroup the role of critic?

The devil's advocacy approach

Which of the following best defines a tariff?

It is a direct tax on imported goods.

A competitive advantage becomes a sustainable competitive advantage when:

other companies cannot duplicate the value a firm is providing to customers.