Exam 9: Foundations of Planning

Which of the following is an example of a single-use plan?

Effective planning in dynamic environments requires flatter organizational hierarchies.

Organizations ABC and XYZ are both in the same industry and vie for the same set of customers in the marketplace. At ABC, goals are set at the top level of management each year and then broken into subgoals for each organizational level. Similarly, plans are developed at the top level and then reformulated and delegated to managers at the middle and lower levels. At XYZ, goals are developed at the top level, and then those managers meet with their subordinates at the next lower level to establish mutually agreeable goals. The middle managers then meet with the first-level managers to establish mutually agreeable goals. Finally, the first-level managers meet with each of their employees and establish mutually agreeable goals. Annual plans are then developed by organization members at all levels to meet their specific needs. -Which goal-setting approach is used at ABC?

In a short essay,explain and discuss in detail the six characteristics of well-designed goals.Give two examples of well-written goals.

Operational plans specify the details of how the overall goals are to be achieved.

In a typical MBO program,________.

Tyler Nall is president and CEO of a new chain of retail stores that is about to begin operations. During the last couple of months, he has been developing goals and directions for the stores, which will sell moderately priced home furnishings to average-income consumers. The plan is to open 20 to 30 stores in large shopping centres across Canada over the next three years. Tyler and his vice-presidents have decided that each store should have sales equal to or greater than $900 per square metre per day. To attract an adequate number of customers, each store should be: • located in an out-parcel site of a major shopping mall; • located at a mall that attracts an average of at least 2,000 customers daily; • well maintained both inside and out; • well lit, throughout the store; • arranged in room settings to highlight the home furnishing decor; • open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; • staffed with friendly, well-groomed sales personnel dressed in business attire. -The primary management function that Tyler and the vice-presidents have been performing during the last couple of months is ________.

Plans that apply to the entire organization,establish the organization's overall goals,and seek to position the organization in terms of its environment are called ________ plans.

Stretch goals are strategic goals that are "stretched" over organizational levels to share responsibility.

________ dominates managers' planning efforts at lower levels of an organization.

In an uncertain environment,managers need to develop plans that are ________.

Bill has been working on his assigned plan for about three months.He is now discussing his progress with Jim,his supervisor.If Bill and Jim are using the MBO planning process,this discussion is called ________.

Directional plans have clearly defined objectives.

Nadia Mainardi is the senior planner for the Whistler-Blackcomb Regional Development Council. She has met with a group of stakeholders, including the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation, Tourism B.C., and others who are interested in working together to improve the Sea to Sky Highway between North Vancouver and Whistler. To date, Nadia has successfully obtained a Technical Assistance Grant from the province to help organize several small communities along the Sea to Sky Highway into an intergovernmental unit, all sharing the same mission and goals. Nadia is now charged with developing a strategic plan for this group, called the Sea to Sky Collaborative. -While each community in the Sea to Sky Collaborative maintains its identity and independence,Nadia believes that leveraging multi-governmental applications will ultimately secure more major funding in the future.However,due to the intergovernmental nature of the organization,Nadia,although in charge of the collaborative,wields little direct power over any member community individually.Which contingency factor best represents Nadia's situation?

Kay was excited. She had just returned from a manager's retreat where MBO was discussed. MBO had never been used in her organization before, and Kay was enthusiastic about implementing it in her department. She received permission from her manager, the division head, who vaguely remembered learning about MBO in university several years earlier. Kay looked over the information she had received but was still confused about who was to choose the goals for the employees. However, she knew that once the goals were chosen they needed to be specific and have explicit time periods attached. Even though it would take a lot of work to implement the program, Kay was confident that MBO would prove to be very beneficial to the organization. -However,Kay was also aware that a potential problem of MBO is that ________.

In traditional goal setting,it is assumed that top managers know what's best because they ________.

In an uncertain environment,managers should develop plans that are specific,but flexible.

The first step in goal setting is to evaluate available resources.

Environmental scanning involves monitoring the firm's pollution emissions.

Which type of plan is ongoing and provides guidance for activities performed repeatedly?