understanding businesses chapter 6-11

Venture Capatalist

Individuals or companies that invest in new businesses in exchange for partial ownership of those businesses.

Small Business Administration

A us governemnt agency that advises and assits small business by providing management training and financial advice and loans

Small Business Investment Company Program

A program through which private investment companies licensed by the Small Business Administration lend money to small businesses.

market

people with unsatisfied wants and needs who have both the resources and willingness to buy

Service Corps of Retired Executives

an SBA office with volunteers from industry, trade associations, and education who counsel small businesses at no cost

managment

the process used to accomplish organizational goals through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling people and other organizational resources

Planning

A management function that includes anticipating trends and determining the best strategies and tactics to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Organizing

a management function that includes designing the structure of the organization and creating conditions and systems in which everyone and everything work together to achieve the organization's goals and objectives

leading

creating a vision for the organization and guiding, training, coaching, and motivating others to work effectively to achieve the organization's goals and objectives

controlling

a management function that involves establishing clear standards to determine whether or not an organization is progressing toward its goals and objectives, rewarding people for doing a good job, and taking corrective action if they are not

vision

an encompassing explanation of why the organization exists and where it's trying to head

Misson Statement

an outline of the fundamental purposes of an organization

goals

The broad, long-term accomplishments an organization wishes to attain.

objectives

Specific, short-term statements detailing how to achieve the organization's goals.

SWOT analysis

a planning tool used to analyze an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

strategic planning

the process of determining the major goals of the organization and the policies and strategies for obtaining and using resources to achieve those goals

Tactical Planning

the process of developing detailed, short-term statements about what is to be done, who is to do it, and how it is to be done

operational planning

the process of setting work standards and schedules necessary to implement the company's tactical objectives

contigency planning

the process of preparing alternative courses of action that may be used if the primary plans don't achieve the organization's objectives

Decision Making

Choosing among two or more alternatives.

Problem Solving

the process of solving everyday problems that occur problem solving is less formal than decision making and usually calls for quicker action

Brainstorming

coming up with as many solutions to a problem as possible in a short period of time with no censoring of ideas

PMI

Listing all the pluses for a solution in one column, all the minuses in another, and the implications in a third column.

Top Management

highest level of management, consisting of the president and other key company executives who develop strategic plans

Middle Management

the level of management that includes general managers, division managers, and branch and plant managers who are responsible for tactical planning and controlling

supervisory management

managers who are directly responsible for supervising workers and evaluating their daily performance

Technical Skills

skills that involve the ability to perform tasks in a specific discipline or department

Human Relations Skills

skills that involve communication and motivation; they enable managers to work through and with people

Conceptual Skills

skills that involve the ability to picture the organization as a whole and the relationship among its various parts

staffing

A management function that includes hiring, motivating, and retaining the best people available to accomplish the company's objectives

Transparency

the presentation of a company's facts and figures in a way that is clear and apparent to all stakeholders

Autocratic Leadership

leadership style that involves making managerial decisions without consulting others

participative (democratic) leadership

leadership style that consists of managers and employees working together to make decisions

Free-Reign Leadership

leadership style that involves managers setting objectives and employees being relatively free to do whatever it takes to accomplish those objectives

Empowerment

giving frontline workers the responsibility, authority, freedom, training, and equipment they need to respond quickly to customer requests

enabiling

giving workers the education and tools they need to make decisions

Knowledge Management

finding the right information, keeping the information in a readily accessible place, and making the information known to everyone in the firm

hierarchy

A system in which one person is at the top of the organization and there is a ranked or sequential ordering from the top down of managers who are responsible to that person.

Chain of Command

the line of authority that moves from the top of a hierarchy to the lowest level

organization chart

A visual device that shows relationships among people and divides the organization's work; it shows who reports to whom.

Bureaucracy

an organization with many layers of mangers who set rules and regulations and oversee all decisions

Centralized Authority

an organizing structure in which decision making authority is maintained at the top level of management at the company's headquarters

Decentrilized Authority

an organizational structure in which decision making authority is delegated to lower level managers more familiar with local conditions that headquarter management can be

Span of control

the optimal number of subordinates a manager supervises or should supervise

tall organizational structure

an organizational structure in which the pyramidal organization chart would be quite tall because of the various levels of management

Flat Organizational Structure

An organizational structure that has only a few levels of management and emphasizes decentralization

Departmentalization

the dividing of organizational functions into separate units

Line Orginization

an organization that has direct two way lines of responsibility authority and communication running from top to the bottom of the organization with all people reporting to one supervisor

Matrix Organization

An organization in which specialists from different parts of the organization are brought together to work on specific projects but still remain part of a line-and-staff structure.

cross-functional self-managed teams

group of employees from different departments who work together on a long-term basis

Networking

The process of establishing and maintaining contacts with key managers in and outside the organization and using those contacts to weave strong relationships that serve as informal development systems.

real time

the present moment or the actual time in which something takes place

virtual corporation

a temporary networked organization made up of replaceable firms that join and leave as needed

Benchmarking

Comparing an organization's practices, processes, and products against the world's best.

Core Competencies

those functions that the organization can do as well as or better than any other organization in the world

digital natives

young people who have grown up using the internet and social networking

restructuring

redesigning an organization so that it can more effectively and efficiently serve its customers

inverted organization

an organization that has contact people at the top and the chief executive officer at the bottom of the organization chart

organizational (or corporate) culture

widely shared values within an organization that provide unity and cooperation to achieve common goals

formal organization

The structure that details lines of responsibility, authority, and position; that is, the structure shown on organization charts.

Informal Organization

the system that develops spontaneously as employees meet and form cliques, relationships, and lines of authority outside the formal organization that is the human side of the organization that does not appear of any organization chart

Form Utility

the value producers add to materials in the creation of finished goods and services

process manufacturing

that part of the production process that physically or chemically changes materials

assembely process

the part of the production process that puts together components

continuous process

a production process in which long production runs turn out finished goods over time

intermittent process

a production process in which the production run is short and the machines are changed frequently to make different products

computer-aided design (CAD)

the use of computers in the design of products

computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)

the use of computers in the manufacturing of products

computer intergrated manufacturing

The uniting of computer-aided design with computer-aided manufacturing.

flexible manufacturing

designing machines to do multiple tasks so that they can produce a variety of products

Lean Manufacturing

the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production

mass customization

tailoring products to meet the needs of individual customers

Facility Location

the process of selecting a geographic location for a company's operations

Telecommuting

working from home via computer

Facility Layout

the physical arrangement of resources (including people) in the production process

Material Requirements Planning (MRP)

A computer-based information system that translates master schedule requirements for end items into time-phased requirements for subassemblies, components, and raw materials.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Purchasing

the function in a firm that searches for high-quality material resources, finds the best suppliers, and negotiates the best price for goods and services

Just-in-time (JIT)

A production process in which a minimum of inventory is kept on the premises and parts, supplies, and other needs are delivered just in time to go on the assembly line.

quality

consistently producing what the customer wants while reducing errors before and after delivery to the customer

Six Sigma Quality

a quality measure that allows only 3.4 defects per million opportunities

statisical quality control

the process in which managers use to continually monitor all phrases of the production process to ensure that quality is being bult into the product from the beginning.

statistical process control

A process of testing statistical samples of product components at each stage of production.

ISO 9001

the common name given to quality management and assurance standards

ISO 14001

A collection of the best practices for managing an organization's impact on the environment.

program elevation and review technique

a method for analyzing tasks involved in completing a given project estimating the time needed to complete each task and identifying the minimum time to complete the total project

Critical Path

in a PERT network, the sequence of tasks that takes the longest time to complete

Gantt Chart

bar graph showing production managers what projects are being worked on and what stage they are in at any given time

intrinsic rewards

the personal satisfaction you feel when you perform well and complete goals

extrinstic rewards

something given to you. by somone else as recogniztion for good work extrinstic rewards include pay increases praise and promotions

Scientific Management

studying workers to find the most efficient ways of doing things and then teaching people those techniques

Time and Motion Studies

Studies, begun by Frederick Taylor, of which tasks must be performed to complete a job and the time needed to do each task.

principle of motion economy

Theory developed by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth that every job can be broken down into a series of elementary motions.

Hawthorne effect

the tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

theory of motivation based on unmet human needs from basic physiological needs to safety, social, and esteem needs to self-actualization needs

Motivators

In Herzberg's theory of motivating factors, job factors that cause employees to be productive and that give them satisfaction.

hygeine factors

In Herzberg's theory of motivating factors, job factors that can cause dissatisfaction if missing but that do not necessarily motivate employees if increased.

Goal Setting Theory

the idea that setting ambitious but attainable goals can motivate workers and improve performance if the goals are accepted, accompanied by feedback, and facilitated by organizational conditions

Management by Objectives (MBO)

Peter Drucker's system of goal setting and implementation; it involves a cycle of discussion, review, and evaluation of objectives among top and middle-level managers, supervisors, and employees.

Expectancy Theory

Victor Vroom's theory that the amount of effort employees exert on a specific task depends on their expectations of the outcome