Exam 2: Management Theory: Essential Background for the Successful Manager

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton believed that evidence-based management is based on the belief that facing the hard facts about what works and having to accept the nonsense that passes for sound advice will help organizations perform better.

Articulate why the classical viewpoint is important. Give an example.

In a fixed-learning system, company employees typically will participate in continuous learning, such as workshops on product improvements, more often than in organizations with an open system.

Compare an open and closed system.

W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran were pioneers of the quality-management movement.

A successful daycare center continuously focuses on actively developing, finding, and then communicating to its employees any new information and approaches related to its business of child care so that workers can modify their behavior to reflect this new knowledge. These types of companies are called _______ organizations.

Paul, an MBA student and small-business owner, is interested in implementing the administrative management approach because this method of management focuses on improving employee morale.

Summarize total quality management.

Studying theoretical perspectives of management can help a manager in many ways, but seldom provides new ideas in new situations.

The contingency viewpoint emphasizes that a manager's approach should vary according to-that is, be contingent on-costs and competition.

Describe the Hawthorne effect. Explain the flaws in the studies.

The belief that quality stemmed from "constancy of purpose," and that managers should stress teamwork, be helpful rather than simply give orders, and make employees feel comfortable about asking questions was proposed by _____.

When a manager assesses a particular situation and decides what to do according to the individual and environmental situation, the manager is utilizing the ____ viewpoint.

Wanda, a CEO, has been encouraging her managers to study and utilize theoretical perspectives of management because this approach _____.

Contrast Theory X and Theory Y. Explain why both theories are important.

The behavioral viewpoint developed over the following phases: _____.

The customers of Best Auto Sales complete an online survey after purchasing an automobile from Best. The information from the customer survey is a form of feedback.

Gary Hamel suggests we need to look at management as a process and then make improvements and innovation ____.

Don, a production manager, has decided to utilize the Hawthorne effect in his facility because studies have shown that this theory will increase production by giving more independence to employees as they receive less attention.

Explain soldiering. Describe the four principles of science that Frederick Taylor believed managers could use to eliminate soldiering.