Principles of Management

A value chain is the sequence of activities that begins with raw materials. What result does a value chain end with?

Delivery of products or services

What are the steps of organizational strategic planning?

Establish mission, vision, and goals

Analyze external opportunities and threats, and internal strengths and weaknesses

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and strategy formulation

Strategy implementation

Strategic control

What happens when an effective value chain is created?

Profit margins are increased.

Industry and market analysis, competitor analysis, and social analysis are examples of which step in the strategic planning process?

Analysis of external opportunities and threats

Skilled management, positive cash flow, and well-known brands are examples of which component of the SWOT analysis?

Strengths

What denotes skills or expertise in an activity that constitutes the roots of competitiveness in an organization?

Core capabilities

What are Porter's five forces?

competitors, threat of new entrants, substitute and complementary products, suppliers, and customers.

According to Michael Porter's competitive environment model, how can suppliers influence strategic planning?

Suppliers can reduce manufacturing time and increase product quality.

A company offers unique products in its industry to create a competitive advantage. Which type of strategy is the company using?

Differentiation

what are the different types of corporate strategy?

concentration strategy, vertical integration, concentric diversification, Conglomerate diversification

what does the concentration strategy do?

focuses on a single business competing in a single industry

what does the vertical integration strategy do?

expands the company’s domain to include suppliers and distributors

What does concentric diversification do?

moves into new but related businesses

What does Conglomerate diversification do?

expands into unrelated businesses

Happy Inc. is a leading provider of family entertainment and BCD is a broadcasting company with news, cable, and entertainment networks. Happy Inc. recently acquired BCD in hopes of boosting its primary business of family entertainment.

Which type of corporate strategy is represented by Happy Inc.'s purchase of their distribution network?

vertical integration

What is a strategic vision?

provides a perspective on where the organization is headed and what it can become

What is a strategic mission?

a clear and concise expression of the basic purpose of the organization

What is a goal?

the targets or ends the manager wants to reach

what is a plan?

the actions or means the manager intends to use to achieve goals

A local business has provided services to its customers for 40 years. The business's mission is "To give our customers the best service in town." The owner of the business has had a long-standing dream to franchise the business and become the best provider of its service in the United States. What describes the owner's dream?

Strategic vision

The introduction of statistical tools to analyze the causes of product defects is associated with which quality improvement approach?

Six Sigma

What is the principal idea of reengineering?

To revolutionize key organizational systems and processes

How many defects per million are there at Six Sigma, assuming a product or process is defect-free 99.99966% of the time?

Less than 3.4

What are Deming's 14 points of quality management?

1. Create constancy of purpose

2. Adopt the new philosophy

3. Cease dependence on mass inspection

4. End the practice of awarding business on price tag alone

5. Improve constantly and forever

6. Institute training and retraining

7. Institute leadership

8. Drive out fear

9. Break down barriers among departments

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and arbitrary targets

11. Eliminate numerical quotas

12. Remove barriers to pride in workmanship

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and retraining

14. Take action to accomplish the transformation

What is a job shop?

When a company provides goods or services in very low volume or small batches

A company is trying to systematically improve processes by eliminating nonconformity of their products to product specifications. The company believes their continuous effort to reduce variation in their process outputs is key to their business success.

Which quality process is the company utilizing?

Six Sigma

Which concept entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customers in both sales and service-related environments?

Customer relationship management

Dr. Ohmae indicates that customer, corporation, and competitors should be integrated in a strategic triangle.

What does Dr. Ohmae indicate that an organization can obtain by doing this?

Sustained competitive advantage

What designates those who take hands-on responsibility for creating innovation such as new ideas, products, or methods within an organization?

Intrapreneur

Why is innovation an important element of entrepreneurship?

Creates unique and different products or services

What personal traits do entrepreneurs possess?

1. Commitment and determination

2. Leadership

3. Opportunity obsession

4. Tolerance of risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty

5. Creativity, self-reliance, and ability to adapt

6. Motivation to excel

Some entrepreneurs are open-minded, able to learn quickly, and skilled at conceptualizing.

Which entrepreneurial personality trait is this?

Creativity, self-reliance, and ability to adapt

Why would an entrepreneurial business choose to use its own resources versus seeking outside resources in financing a business venture?

To maintain control

Which activity should management use to encourage intrapreneurship within an organization?

Encourage employees to work on informal job assignments

Which type of control system is being implemented when management uses prices, profit centers, and exchange relationships as a control?

Market control

What is the fourth step of the control process which ensures that operations are adjusted to achieve planned results?

Comparing performance against standards

A corporation recently disbanded its flex time schedule for employees and now requires that all employees work 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The employees banded together in opposition of the change.

What were the employees of the corporation experiencing?

Peer pressure

The manager of the human resources department at a corporation agreed to authorize one-hour lunch breaks for all employees of the organization as long as the production manager agreed to shorten the morning and afternoon breaks of all employees to 15 minutes.

Which approach were the managers using to enlist cooperation for the change?

Negotiation and reward

A corporation offers concrete incentives such as higher wages for cooperation with change.

Which strategy is the corporation using to overcome resistance to change?

Negotiation and reward

Why is consideration of intentions important in conflict situations?

People respond based on their interpretation of others' intentions

Cooperativeness and assertiveness are dimensions of which aspect of the conflict process?

Conflict-handling intentions

Two team members disagreed over how to proceed with a new project they were working on together and both felt their positions were valid. Their manager brought them together to discover ways to resolve their disagreement moving forward.

Which conflict-resolution technique did the manager use to help these team members?

Compromising

A corporation is experiencing dysfunction in their work teams. The team leader plans to realign work groups based on employees' work locations, and also to alter rules and regulations in the groups and make additional changes to "shake things up a bit."

Which conflict-stimulation technique is the team leader applying?

Restructuring the organization

During a final job interview, the hiring manager asks candidates about age and national origin. Some of the rejected candidates suspect they did not get the job because of their age.

Which law covers this type of discrimination?

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

After a major budget increase, a company finds itself in a position to hire 50 new employees.

How can strategic human resource planning benefit the company in this situation?

By organizing staffing needs and looking for people with the right skills

In the five dimensions of Hackman and Oldham's model of job design, what does autonomy describe?

Independence and discretion in making decisions

A store that has had a high rate of employee theft wants to use an employee selection technique to hire new employees who are less likely to steal from them.

Which type of employee selection instrument is most appropriate in this situation?

Integrity test

Which entities protect the rights of employees and potential employees from discrimination in the workplace?

Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action

During an international executive meeting, an executive used a word that did not translate into English.

What type of cross-cultural communication barrier is this?

Barrier caused by word association

A younger employee becomes irritated by the sound of an older employee's voice and finds it difficult to work on projects with the older employee. This has caused conflict in the department.

What is the source of conflict between the older and younger employees?

Personal variables

In which situation does religious preference inappropriately affect decision making?

A publicly-held company has a policy limiting financial donations to one religious group.

A visually-impaired person has been hired to work in the human resources department of a small company.

Which workplace accommodations would be reasonable in this situation?

The company will purchase a large computer screen and a Braille keyboard.

What is a common component of effective diversity training programs?

Building awareness

When selecting an organizational structure, which key elements should be considered?

Differentiation and integration

What is the best way to succeed in a matrix organizational structure?

Collaboration

What is a reason to create a boundaryless organizational structure?

To make information available as needed

Which formal structure allows job holders to have broad responsibilities, accommodates decentralized and informal decision making, and values expertise?

Organic

One manager is responsible for all functional areas allowing the company to sell Product A, and another manager is responsible for all functional areas that allow the company to sell Product B.

Which type of design does this corporation use?

Divisional