Exam 8: Planning Processes and Techniques

The planning team at Abdullah and Sons has thoroughly examined all possible situations that may be encountered in the current year. They have also addressed various factors that may help or act as barriers to objectives. Which of the following steps in the planning process has been completed by the planning team at Abdullah and Sons by taking these actions?

___ or ___ describe exactly what actions are to be taken in specific situations.

Controlling is the process of setting objectives and determining how to accomplish them.

Contingency planning identifies alternative courses of action to take when things go wrong.

Examples of functional plans include production plans, financial plans, logistics plans, and HR plans.

Planning eliminates the need for effective leadership.

If staff planners are used, people may often lack commitment to implement the plans no matter how good they are.

___ plans deal with selling and distributing goods or services.

In management by objectives (MBO), the supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team jointly set performance objectives and review the results accomplished.

The team leader of an IT firm has called for a meeting of all software engineers to view and discuss the course of action for a new software creation project. This is an example of ___.

Participatory planning requires that the planning process include people who will be affected by the resulting plans and/or will be asked to help implement them.

Good time management involves prioritizing your work, screening calls and emails, and saying "no" to distracting requests.

Advantages of MBO include focusing the work efforts of subordinates/team members on the most important tasks and objectives, and the work efforts of the supervisor/team leader on areas of support that can help subordinates/team members meet agreed-upon objectives.

At the beginning of every month, the owners of a small bakery define the major objectives for that month (for example, the profit needed for that month). They also try to anticipate any problems or issues that could prevent them from reaching their objectives, and create a plan of action if needed. At the end of the month, they check to see if they met their objectives. Creating such good plans, will help them to

Goals should be aligned so that employees achieving their individual goals will contribute to their department's achieving its goals. Moreover, goals must contain certain attributes to be implemented successfully. These important factors help make goals integral to successful organization performance. Describe the attributes that goals must have. How does goal alignment improve an organization's performance?

In a management by objectives approach, the supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team members jointly plan, act, and control during all phases of the process.

Budgets are single-use plans that commit resources to activities, projects, or programs.

In 2011, to establish itself in Canada, Target Corporation bought the struggling Zellers Inc. from Hudson's Bay Company with plans to spend over $1 billion converting 100 to 150 Zellers stores to Target stores within two to three years. What type of plan would Target have needed for this type of move?

Strategic plans are focused only on a specific department of an organization.

Which of the following is the first step in the planning process?