Exam 1: Introduction to Management and Organizations

Managers who are effective at meeting organizational goals always act efficiently.

The associate dean of business management is responsible for preparing the schedule of classes at a large Canadian university.As she schedules each instructor's classes at specific times,she is performing Mintzberg's role of resource allocator.

Impact of concerns over globalization is directly related to digitization changes facing managers.

According to Mintzberg's management roles,the ________ roles are those that involve people and other duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature.

Conceptual skills are less important to top managers.

The three common characteristics of all organizations are distinct purpose,deliberate structure,and material resources.

Directing and motivating are part of the organizing function.

Empowered employees and virtual workplaces fall into the ________ category of challenges facing managers.

Carly spent the day "shadowing" her uncle Dave, who is the CEO of a large consumer electronics company. Carly is a business management major at a local college, and one of her class assignments was to interview a business manager. When she approached her uncle about the assignment, he invited her to follow him around for a day to observe the typical business activities of a top manager. She noted that he spent the day dealing with a variety of issues. First he met with a division manager who was having difficulty achieving production targets due to his inability to motivate the employees. Then they visited the assembly line to inspect a new machine designed to increase production output. Uncle Dave had once been a production engineer, and the department supervisor and assembly workers were impressed by his knowledge of the new machine's operating specifications. At lunch they met with a group of local CEOs from other companies where everything from the new hiring laws to the latest economic reports was discussed. After lunch, Carly attended a meeting where the five-year strategic plan for the entire company was being evaluated. For her uncle it was a typical day in the life of a CEO, but for Carly it had been a day full of information that she could use for her class assignment. -The division manager's inability to motivate his employees may be a sign of weak ________ skills.

Don Martin, plant manager at Control Systems, Inc., sighed as he sipped his cup of coffee and reviewed his hectic schedule for the day. He has to escort two company tours in the morning: the first to a newspaper reporter who is writing a story on the new plant expansion, and the second to a group of Control Systems managers from the East Coast. Then he has a meeting with the unit manager, Phil Johnson, to discuss Phil's recent drop in performance (a task he does not enjoy). Next, he is spending a couple of hours reviewing the trade journals he receives from his high-tech association and writing up a brief synopsis for his presentation next week to the division vice-president. Finally, in the late afternoon, he will be reviewing a recent equipment malfunction and deciding whether to bring in extra technicians to get the equipment operating again as soon as possible. Whew! It was just another busy day in the life of a manager. -What role will Don be performing when he reviews his trade journals?

Amy is a supervisor at a large manufacturing plant.She has spent her day trying to ensure that the light bulbs coming off the assembly line light up 99.5 per cent of the time.She has spent her day performing the management activity of ________.

As a production supervisor, Joe decides on Friday afternoon how many units of output his employees should produce next week, as well as which products will be produced on which days in the department. He also decides which employees are going to be responsible for operating which machines, since all his subordinates are multi-skilled assemblers. On Monday, he hands out work assignment sheets to inform the employees about which machines each will operate for the week. Joe also announces that the schedule will be challenging because of an increase in the targeted number of output units. He encourages his subordinates by telling them that he is confident they will achieve the production targets because they are such hard-working and skilled employees. Then, during the week, he monitors the daily production output and records the number of units that successfully achieved the company's quality standards, as well as the number of units that were unsatisfactory and had to be scrapped. -Joe's position is at which managerial level?

Kelly, a production supervisor, is responsible for 10 employees who assemble components into a finished product sold to distributors. Kelly reports to Sam, a production manager, who in turn reports to Pat, a general manager, who reports to Chris, a vice-president of operations. Recently, Chris asked Pat to have a meeting with Kelly and Sam regarding some recent customer concerns in the production area. The focus of the meeting was to judge the validity of the customer concerns and to develop a specific plan to address these concerns. -What do Kelly,Sam,Pat,and Chris all have in common?

From a business perspective,a company's ability to achieve its business goals and increase long-term shareholder value by integrating economic,environmental,and social opportunities into its business strategies is known as ________.

Amy Kwon has proven herself to be an able manager. Her department has a high project completion rate with the highest-quality product and the lowest defects in her division. In addition, she accomplishes this with fewer full-time people than other managers. She performs all the required functions of a manager, but some say that the "secret" of her success is her ability to direct and motivate others. -If Amy accomplished her project on time with high-quality results,but she took more time than other managers to complete this,you could say that as a manager she was ________.

Organizing includes ________.

In a short essay,describe the three main types of managerial skills identified by Robert Katz.Which skills are most important to each level of management,and why? Give specific examples to support your discussion.

The most important variables in employee productivity and loyalty are pay and benefits.

Gavin Clayton is vice-president of product development at Canadian Aircraft Manufacturing (CAM). The company specializes in smaller civilian aircraft for commuter airlines and corporate executives. Gavin is trying to decide if the company should proceed in its plans to produce a new larger scale aircraft. He knows that the new aircraft supports the corporate strategy and will enhance their competitive position in the industry. As a former engineer with years of experience in aircraft design and production, he also knows that his company has the skills and capability to produce the new aircraft. In fact, he believes that the new larger aircraft will result in scale economies for CAM—allowing it to produce more profitable aircraft with roughly the same labour resources. Unfortunately, this could be a sore point with the labour union that represents the aircraft assembly workers. While Gavin has always maintained a good relationship with these workers, he knows they are suspicious of management's motives. If the workers perceive the new larger aircraft as a management ploy to increase worker productivity, they will resist the change. Management will definitely have to get the support of the union before they implement the new production plans. Gavin gazes out his window and ponders how best to proceed with the situation. -The fact that Gavin has always maintained a good relationship with the assembly workers is evidence of which managerial skill?

A distinct purpose is important in defining an organization.