Exam 9: Foundations of Planning

In a short essay,describe how managers can effectively plan when the external environment is continually changing.Give examples of environmental factors that affect planning.

Strategic plans tend to cover a longer period of time than operational goals and also ________.

Directional plans are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation.

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. -Uncertainty about the impact of new teaching technologies and shifting program demand suggests that the plan should be more ________.

Generally speaking,formal planning is associated with ________.

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. -Robert's plan to employ five programmers and two analysts within his first year of operation is best described as a ________ plan.

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 plan to open 20 to 30 stores over the next three years is ________.

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?

Planning reduces ________ by forcing managers to look ahead and anticipate ________.

With traditional goal setting,employees' work efforts at their respective levels and work areas are geared to meet the goals ________

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 statement that all stores should be well maintained both inside and out is an example of a(n)________.

In order to manage effectively in an uncertain environment,managers must recognize that planning is ________.

Most organizational goals are either strategic or financial.

Planning can't eliminate change.Managers plan in order to ________.

Are strategic or operational plans needed? Does long-term planning make sense in current business environment? These decisions are affected by three contingency variables.In a short essay,explain the three contingency factors and illustrate how these factors influence planning.

When uncertainty is high and managers must be flexible,which type of plan is most preferable?

Management by objectives (MBO)is a management system in which specific performance goals are ________.

Plans that encompass only production or sales goals of a company are called ________ plans.

Planning is not necessary to carry out organizational goals as long as strong controls are in place.

________ refers to gathering information about other businesses that allows managers to anticipate their actions rather than merely react to them.