Exam 9: Foundations of Planning

Competitor intelligence is about gathering information about competitors.

A ________ is a broad statement of an organization's purpose that provides an overall guide to what organizational members think is important.

When uncertainty is high and managers must be flexible in order to respond to unexpected changes,directional plans are preferable.

Which of the following statements about planning is TRUE?

Robert Downs,owner of a new community newspaper in his home town has set the following goal for his company: "To be a champion for free speech and for the development of the community." This goal constitutes the ________ goal of the company.

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. -Based on Kay's observations about effective goal setting,which of the following is an appropriate goal for a MBO program?

Robert Lee has just completed a Bachelor of Computer Science degree at Carleton University. He now wants to begin a new Internet business selling his services as a website developer for companies in Ottawa. He estimates that within one year, if his business idea is a success, he will be employing five programmers and two analysts. -To clarify how the overall goals are to be achieved,Robert will need to develop ________ plans.

As the responsibility for establishing goals and developing plans is pushed to lower organizational levels in dynamic environments,organizational hierarchies must become ________.

Which of the following is identified in our textbook as a contingency factor that affects organizational planning?

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. -Because of the intergovernmental nature of the Sea to Sky Collaborative,Nadia's boss suggests that open-ended goals may be preferable,as they offer greater flexibility.Nadia,a knowledgeable and experienced planner,tells her that well-designed goals should ________.

Which of the following is TRUE concerning standing plans?

Planning is concerned both with ends (what is to be done)and means (how it is to be done).

Which of the following is identified in our textbook as a contingency factor that affects organizational planning?

________ involves the acquisition of proprietary materials or trade secrets of other companies by any means.

The most popular ways to describe organization's plans are by their breadth,time frame,________.

In traditional goal setting,goals set by top managers flow down through the organization and become sub goals for each organizational area.

Robert Lee has just completed a Bachelor of Computer Science degree at Carleton University. He now wants to begin a new Internet business selling his services as a website developer for companies in Ottawa. He estimates that within one year, if his business idea is a success, he will be employing five programmers and two analysts. -To make his business successful,Robert will first have to develop a(n)________ plan that establishes the company's overall goals and positions it in terms of its environment.

External environment has little or no impact on the formal planning process.

An organization is in the process of goal setting.It has finished reviewing the mission statement.What should it do next?

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 recruitment policy to hire sales personnel who are friendly and well-groomed is a ________ plan.