Exam 9: Foundations of Planning

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. -Kay knew that the goals established for the MBO program should ________ employees,rather than ________ them.

Rachel is the academic dean for a regional community college. The president has asked her to develop a plan for the college. He wants a plan covering the next five years, and he wants it to be as specific as possible, but not to the extent that it constrains flexibility. In developing the plan, Rachel must address several emerging issues, including advancements in teaching technology, shifting demand for various academic programs, declining student enrolment, and increasing competition from other schools. Despite projections that student enrolment will continue to decline over the next five years, Rachel must ensure that the plan allows the college to meet its employment obligations to tenured faculty who have been offered long-term teaching positions. -Since Rachel's plan will apply to the entire college,it is best described as a(n)________ plan.

Which of the following is an example of a standing plan?

Real goals are goals that an organization actually pursues.

A city's policy concerning skateboarding on downtown sidewalks that provides guidance for police action would be considered what type of plan?

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. -Nadia has told the Collaborative's members that the more current the plans are that affect future commitments,the longer the time frame is for which managers must plan.This concept is also known as the ________.

The commitment concept means that plans should extend far enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed.

The quality of the planning process and the appropriate implementation of the plans likely ________.

How can managers effectively plan when the external environment is continually changing?

Williamson is the owner of a small company that sells corporate gifts through an online store.Business has slowed down in recent months and he realizes that the organization must move in a different direction if it is to survive.He has reset some of the company's overall goals and wants to develop a plan to achieve those goals.He is anticipating the business environment to be volatile for the next few years.Considering the above information,it can be determined that his plan must be ________.

An integrated network of goals is sometimes called a means-ends chain.

In management by objectives (MBO),performance goals are often general rather than specific,giving managers and employees flexibility to respond to changing conditions.

Strategic goals focus exclusively on the financial performance of the organization.

Increasingly in today's world of innovative entrepreneurs we see goals that may not be realistic.These goals are ________.

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. -Because these plans only cover a one-year period,they would most likely be classified as ________ plans.

Two types of plans that are differentiated by their breadth of application are ________.

A government plan that calls for a 2.45 percent increase in tobacco sales tax for the next three years would be considered what type of plan?

The effect of planning on managers is that it forces them to ________.

When making editorial decisions for his newspaper,the owner/editor mostly picks issues that are in line with his political beliefs and those that his advertisers approve of despite his publicly stated goal "to be a champion for free speech and for the development of the community." This indicates that ________.

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 XYZ?