Principles of Management: Core Concepts Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcard set covering foundational principles of management including strategic planning, decision making, value chain management, organizational design, marketing fundamentals, communication theory, and corporate finance.

Task Environment

The set of forces and conditions originating with suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors that directly and immediately affects an organization's ability to obtain inputs and sell outputs.

General Environment

The wide-ranging global, economic, technological, sociocultural, demographic, political, and legal forces that affect an organization and its task environment.

Scenario Planning

The generation of multiple forecasts of future conditions followed by an analysis of how to respond effectively to each of those conditions.

Strategic Leadership

The ability of the CEO and top managers to convey to their employees a compelling vision of what they want the organization to achieve.

SMART Goals

An acronym framework specifying that organizational goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, and Timely.

SWOT Analysis

A planning exercise in which managers identify internal organizational strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) alongside external environmental opportunities (O) and threats (T).

Porter's Five Forces

A framework identifying five industry-level competitive forces: the level of rivalry among organizations, potential for new entry, power of suppliers, power of customers, and threat of substitute products.

Differentiation Strategy

A business-level strategy focused on distinguishing an organization's products from competitor offerings on dimensions such as product design, quality, or after-sales service.

Programmed Decision

A routine, virtually automatic decision-making process that follows established rules or guidelines developed from repeated past occurrences.

Nonprogrammed Decision

Nonroutine decision making that occurs in response to unusual, unpredictable opportunities and threats where no established rules exist.

Reasoned Judgment

A decision that requires time and effort, resulting from careful information gathering, alternative generation, and evaluation of alternatives.

Four Criteria for Evaluating Decision Alternatives

The four core questions used to assess potential courses of action: Is the action legal, ethical, economical, and practical?

Value Chain

The coordinated series or sequence of functional activities necessary to transform inputs into finished goods or services that customers value and want to buy.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A technique that uses technology to develop an ongoing relationship with customers to maximize the value delivered to them over time.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

A management approach that focuses on improving product quality and stresses that all organizational value chain activities should be directed toward this goal.

Quantum Product Innovation

The development of new, often radically different goods and services resulting from fundamental shifts in technology brought about by pioneering discoveries.

Incremental Product Innovation

The gradual improvement and refinement of existing products over time as existing technologies are perfected.

Organizational Architecture

The combination of organizational structure, control systems, culture, and human resource management systems determining together how efficiently and effectively resources are used.

Tall Organization

An organizational hierarchy characterized by many levels of authority and narrow spans of control, which can create communication delays and higher operating expenses.

Flat Organization

An organizational hierarchy characterized by fewer levels of authority and wide spans of control, resulting in quick communications but potentially overworked managers.

Team

A group whose members work intensely with each other to achieve a specific, common overriding goal or objective.

Five Stages of Group Development

The sequential model of group progression consisting of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Marketing Mix (4Ps)

The four fundamental building blocks of marketing strategy consisting of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

The Law of Leadership

The marketing principle stating that the easiest way to achieve business success is to be first in the market.

Category Creation

A market entry approach where a company identifies an unmet customer need, develops a solution, and markets it as a radical innovation rather than an incremental improvement.

Information Richness

The amount of information that a communication medium can carry and the extent to which that medium enables sender and receiver to reach a common understanding.

Management by Wandering Around

A face-to-face communication practice in which a manager walks around a work area and talks informally with employees about operational issues and concerns.

Noise (Communication)

Anything that hampers, distorts, or interferes with any stage of the communication process between sender and receiver.

Information Overload

The condition where important business information is ignored or overlooked because tangential or excessive information demands attention.

Capital Budgeting

The financial management decision-making process of determining what long-term investments or projects a business should take on.

Capital Structure

The financial decision determining how an organization finances its assets, specifically managing the proportion of debt versus equity.

Working Capital Management

The ongoing management of a firm's day-to-day finances and operational cash flows.

Treasurer

The financial officer within a firm who oversees cash management, credit management, capital expenditures, and financial planning.

Controller

The financial officer within a firm who oversees taxes, cost accounting, financial accounting, and data processing.

Agency Problem

A corporate conflict of interest that arises when managers acting as agents pursue goals that do not align with the interests of the stockholder principals.