Principles of Management - C483 WGU (Pre-Assessment)

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

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

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

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

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

What is the first step of organizational strategic planning?

Developing a strategic mission

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 happens when an effective value chain is created?

Profit margins are increased.

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 re-engineering?

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 is the last step to Deming's 14 points of quality management?

To take action to accomplish the transformation

Process checklists and project audits are components of which management process?

Quality Assurance

What is the main objective of an internal quality audit?

To measure effectiveness of an organization's quality management system

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

Most successful entrepreneurs exhibit certain characteristics. 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

Which personality characteristics are believed to contribute to an entrepreneur's success?

Determination

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

What can managers do to encourage useful conflict during a meeting to lessen inhibition about disagreeing and make the conflict less personal?

Provide a devils advocate

Why is consideration of intentions important in conflict situations?

People respond based on their interpretation of others' intentions.

What describes dimensions of conflict-handling intentions?

Cooperativeness and assertiveness

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

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?

Taking corrective action

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

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

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

Four small, independent organizations, each with its own type of expertise, plan to work together for six months for the sole purpose of developing a new product that will help each of them improve their ability to compete with larger organizations.

Which type of organization does their relationship characterize?

Virtual organization

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

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.

What is a common component of effective diversity training programs?

Building awareness

Describe the concepts of strategic vision (intent), mission, and goals

STRATEGIC VISION (INTENT):
The long-term direction and strategic intent of a company

-most effective inspire organization members, point to future
--Enhance citizen engagement in city issues.
--Sustain the natural systems and beauty of the community.
--Sustain a safe community with a coherent, comprehensive, cohesive approach to safety.
--Maintain economic vitality.

MISSION:
An organization's basic purpose and scope of operations
-can be broad but often less for smaller business

GOALS:
-A target or end that management desires to reach
-Strategic goals evolve from the mission and vision of the organization.
Three level of planning hierarchy
-strategic, tactical operational -->correspond with the three major management levels
-all levels are important and must be aligned with the other or the overall implementation of the plan will not be successful.

What acronym is used to remember the qualities for goals? What does each letter stand for?

SMART

Specific - When goals are precise, describing particular behaviors and outcomes, employees can more easily determine whether they are working toward the goals.
Measurable¬ ¬¬-- As much as possible, each goal should quantify the desired results so there is no doubt whether it has been achieved.
Attainable (but challenging) — Employees need to recognize that they can attain the goals they are responsible for, or else they are likely to become discouraged. However, they should also feel challenged to work hard and be creative.
Relevant - Each goal should contribute to the organization's overall mission while being consistent with its values, including the ethical standards. Goals are more likely to be relevant to the organizations overall objectives if they are consistent within and among work groups.
Time-bound - Effective goals specify a target date for completion. Besides knowing what to do, employees should know when they need to deliver results.

What is benchmarking?

To assess and improve performance, some companies use benchmarking, the process of assessing how well one company's basic functions and skills compare with those of another company or set of companies. The goal of benchmarking is to understand the "best practices" of other firms thoroughly and to undertake actions to achieve both better performance and lower costs.

What does SWOT stand for?

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

Explain what a Core Competency/Capability means for an organization

A core capability (also referred to as "competence") is something a company does especially well relative to its competitors.

A core competency is a company's unique characteristic or capability that provides a competitive advantage in the marketplace, delivers value to customers, and contributes to continued organizational growth. Core competencies typically comprise fundamental knowledge, ability or expertise in a specific subject area or skill set, allow a business to reach a wide range of markets, and cannot be easily replicated by competitors.

Strategy formulation comes immediately after

an analysis of the organizations internal strengths and weaknesses.

An analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses is step ________ in the strategic management process.

THREE.

___________ are inputs to production that can be accumulated over time to enhance the performance of the firm.

Resources

A company that reinvests its profits back into the company's current activities to strengthen its competitive position is implementing a(n) __________ strategy.

Vertical integration.

Vertical integration involves expanding the companies domain to include supplies and distributors.

A _______ strategy involves expanding the domain of the organization to include supply channels and distributors.

Vertical integration.

Vertical integration involves expanding the companies domain to include supplies and distributors.

If an automobile manufacturer expands its business from building cars into producing a line of motorcycles, it is using which strategy?

concentric diversification

Which of the following is the primary reason why a company might pursue a conglomerate diversification strategy?

to minimize risks due to market fluctuations in one industry

Effective goals specify a ____________ so that employees know when to deliver the results.

Target date

A contingency plan is a type of plan utilized when

Initial plans do not work well or an unexpected event occurs.

The final step of the planning process is

Step 6: Monitor and Control

The basic planning has six steps. What are they?

Step 1: Situational Analysis
Step 2: Alternative Goals and Plans
Step 3: Goal and Plan Evaluation
Step 4: Goal and Plan Selection
Step 5 Implementation
Step 6: Monitor and Control

Companies concentrate on a single industry to __________.

gain entry into an industry

A strategy of ___________ involves moving into new businesses that are related to the company's original core business.

concentric diversification

In competition, a substitute is best described as a(n):

alternative to a product.

Which of the following is a component of Porter's competitive environment?

Suppliers

Which of the following is a demographic factor of an organization's macroenvironment?

Employees' age

Complexity and dynamism in the environment result in:

environmental uncertainty.

Why is understanding an organization's environment important?

Without this understanding, organizations tend to miss opportunities or make poor decisions.

Raw materials, services, equipment, capital, and information are _____ for an organization.

inputs

According to Michael Porter's competitive environment model, high switching costs increases _____.

the power of suppliers

Identifying the best-in-class performance by a company in a given area, such as customer service, and then comparing the process to one's
own is called _____.

benchmarking

Which of the following is a controllable environmental factor that can affect an organization?

Cost leadership strategy

Which of the following is a characteristic of a strong culture?

Everyone believing in the firm's practices

Differences in the way people dress and act, their interactions with each other and with customers, and what qualities are expected and appreciated by their managers and company are examples of the _____.

organization culture

What is a vertical strategy?

A vertical integration strategy involves expanding the domain of the organization into supply channels or to distributors. Vertical integration generally is used to eliminate uncertainties and reduce costs associated with suppliers or distributors.

A concentration strategy is

focuses on a single business competing in a single industry.

concentric diversification

A strategy of concentric diversification involves moving into new businesses that are related to the company's original core business.

conglomerate diversification

In contrast to concentric diversification, conglomerate diversification is a corporate strategy that involves expansion into unrelated businesses.

Three Levels of Planning Hierarchy: OPERATIONAL (Managerial Level /Detail/Time Horizon)

FRONTLINE workers, delivering products, delivery service, everyday workers, making the products, working with the customers directly,

HIGH DETAIL

SHORT <1 YEAR

Three Levels of Planning Hierarchy: TACTICAL (Managerial Level /Detail/Time Horizon)

MIDDLE

MEDIUM DETAIL

MEDIUM (1-2 years)

Three Levels of Planning Hierarchy: STRATEGIC (Managerial Level /Detail/Time Horizon)

TOP: CEOS, VICE PRESIDENTS, MANAGERIAL LEVEL, HIGH LEVEL MANAGEMENT

LOW LEVEL OF DETAIL: "Big picture"

LONG (3-7 years)

Changing a task to make it inherently more rewarding, motivating, and satisfying is referred to as:

job enrichment.

An empowered workforce:

improves quality and service.

A difference between Maslow's need hierarchy and Alderfer's ERG theory is that:

Maslow's needs theory has general applicability, whereas Alderfer's ERG theory aims at understanding people's needs at work.

According to Hackman and Oldham's model of job design, the degree to which a job provides independence and discretion in making decisions refers to:

autonomy.

According to Herzberg, the key to true job satisfaction lies in the:

motivators.

Achievement, affiliation, personalized power, and socialized power are all components of:

McClelland's needs theory.

Which of the following psychological states does the Hackman and Oldham model link with the core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, and task significance?

Experienced meaningfulness of the work

According to Herzberg's theory, the two factors that affect people working on their jobs are categorized into:

hygiene factors and motivators.

The rewards given to a person by the boss, the company, or some other person are known as _____ rewards.

extrinsic

Alderfer's ERG theory postulates three sets of needs:

existence, relatedness, and growth.

According to the Hackman and Oldham model, the best way to design an enriched job in which employees experience responsibility for the outcome of the work is to provide:

autonomy.

According to Maslow's need hierarchy, ____.

people are motivated to satisfy the lower needs before the higher needs

TQM (Total Quality Management)

Total quality management (TQM) is a way of managing in which everyone is committed to continuous improvement of his or her part of the operation. In business, success depends on having high-quality products.

The importance of TQM

TQM is a comprehensive approach to improving product quality and thereby customer satisfaction. It is characterized by a strong orientation toward customers (external and internal) and has become an umbrella theme for -organizing work. TQM reorients managers toward involving people across departments in improving all aspects of the business. Continuous improvement requires integrative mechanisms that facilitate group problem solving, information sharing, and cooperation across business functions. As a consequence, the walls that separate stages and functions of work tend to come down, and the organization operates more in a team-oriented manner.