Deck 6: Planning and Techniques

Question 1

An organization with flexibility is willing and able to change and adapt and operates with an orientation toward the future.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

When plans are coordinated among the various systems and components of the organization,there is less likelihood that multiple accomplishments will add up to the desired results for the organization as a whole.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Managers must have the insight and courage to be flexible in response to new circumstances.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

An organization with focus knows the needs of its customers and knows how to serve them well;an individual with focus knows where he or she wants to go in a career or situation and is able to retain that objective even in difficult circumstances.

Question 5

Cognos shows that you cannot make great things happen even with the right plans.

Question 6

Effective planning improves focus and flexibility,provides an action orientation,helps to improve coordination,and facilitates better control and time management.

Question 7

The planning process is a systematic way of setting performance objectives and deciding how to best achieve them.

Question 8

Planning is the process of deciding how to what you want to accomplish and how to do it.

Question 9

Although planning focuses attention on defining and setting objectives,it doesn't concern itself with implementation of those objectives.

Question 10

Planning is an ongoing process engaged in simultaneously with other daily work processes.

Question 11

In regards to planning,the complacency trap occurs when organizations simply allow themselves to be carried along by the flow of events.

Question 12

In the planning process,objectives refer to the specific results or desired outcomes that one intends to achieve.

Question 13

Planning is a five-step process that includes defining objectives,determining current status relative to objectives,developing premises regarding future conditions,analyzing action alternatives and choosing among them,and implementing the plan and evaluating results.

Question 14

Planning helps managers and organizations to stay ahead of the competition by creating a performance-oriented sense of direction,making sure the most important things get attention first,ensuring that all resources are used to best advantage,and anticipating problems and opportunities so they can be dealt with in the best way.

Question 15

Planning is the process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them.

Question 16

Controlling is the management function that establishes the platform for further managerial efforts.

Question 17

Planning provides action orientations for people and organizations that are results oriented,priority oriented,advantage oriented,and change oriented.

Question 18

Planning in organizations creates a solid platform for further managerial efforts to assist managers to allocate and arrange resources to accomplish essential tasks in the organization.

Question 19

The planning process is a systematic way of ensuring that performance objectives have been attained.

Question 20

Planning eliminates the need for effective leadership.

Question 21

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

Question 22

Long-range plans cover a time frame at least six years into the future

Question 23

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

Question 24

A functional plan indicates how different operations within the organization will help advance the overall strategy.

Question 25

Top-level managers are more focused on long-range planning.

Question 26

Typical strategic plans in a business would include dealing with the methods and technology needed by people in their work and dealing with money required to support various operations.Typical operational plans in a business would include dealing with requirements of selling and distributing goods or services and dealing with recruitment,selection,and placement of people into jobs.

Question 27

Planning facilitates control by defining the objectives and using specialization to motivate workers.

Question 28

Without controlling,planning lacks a framework for measuring how well things are going and what could be done to improve things.

Question 29

Tactical plans tend to be intermediate-term plans that specify step by step means for using the organization's resources to put strategies into action.

Question 30

Operational plans form the foundation for strategic plans,whereas strategic plans specify the activities and resources that are needed to carry out the operational plans.

Question 31

Without planning,controlling lacks the follow-through needed to ensure that things work as planned.

Question 32

Strategic plans set broad,comprehensive,and longer-term action directions for the entire organization.

Question 33

Elliot Jacques suggests that all managers,regardless of their levels,will use the same time horizon to plan their work activities.

Question 34

An organization's vision clarifies the purpose of the organization and expresses what it hopes to be in the future.

Question 35

Short-range plans cover one year or less into the future.

Question 36

Policies and procedures are single-use plans for meeting the needs of a well-defined situation in a timely manner.

Question 37

Operational plans define what needs to be done in specific functions or work units in order to implement strategic plans and achieve strategic objectives.

Question 38

Intermediate-range plans cover a time frame of one to five years into the future.

Question 39

A tactical plan helps to implement all or parts of a strategic plan.

Question 40

Effective time management involves choices about the allocation of time to the most important priorities.

Question 41

Fixed budgets define specific task objectives,link activities to be accomplished with due dates,and identify the amounts and timing of resource requirements.

Question 42

A zero-based budget and a project schedule are examples of standing plans that are designed to cover recurring situations.

Question 43

Scenario planning is a short term activity.

Question 44

Contingency planning contains trigger points that indicate when preselected alternative plans should be activated.

Question 45

Standard operating procedures are rules that are often found in employee manuals.

Question 46

Procedures present a plan of action for specific situations whereas policies are broad guidelines.

Question 47

A monthly operating budget is an example of a single-use plan that serves the needs and objectives of a well-defined situation in a timely manner.

Question 48

A fixed budget is defined as one that allocates a fixed amount of resources for a specific purpose.

Question 49

Using the opinions of persons with special expertise to make predictions about the future is called qualitative forecasting.

Question 50

Quantitative forecasting techniques use expert opinions to predict the future,whereas qualitative forecasting uses mathematical analyses to predict future events.

Question 51

Contingency planning identifies alternative courses of action that can be implemented to meet the needs of changing circumstances.

Question 52

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

Question 53

Contingency planning does not specify different courses of action under different conditions.

Question 54

A zero-based budget allows the allocation of resources to vary in proportion with various levels of activity.

Question 55

Contingency planning focuses on early identification of possible shifts in future events.

Question 56

Using mathematical and statistical analyses of historical data and surveys to predict future events is called quantitative forecasting.

Question 57

Contingency planning occurs when planners decide the future will be identical to the past.

Question 58

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

Question 59

Policies communicate broad guidelines for making decisions and taking action in specific circumstances.

Question 60

Forecasting is a process of making quantitative or qualitative predictions about what will happen in the future;yet in the final analysis,forecasting is subject to error because it always relies on human judgment and interpretation.

Question 61

In the means-ends chain,higher-level objectives are ends that are directly tied to lower-level objectives as the means for their accomplishment.

Question 62

Aligning goals from one level to the next facilitates the right things happening at the right time on all levels of the organization.

Question 63

Improvement objectives,personal development objectives,and maintenance objectives can be specified in an MBO contract.

Question 64

Benchmarking is used to gain perspective on current organizational performance through the use of external comparisons.

Question 65

Management by objectives MBO)is a structured process of regular communication in which a supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team members jointly set performance objectives and review results accomplished.

Question 66

As long as people have goals,how they are set doesn't really make much of an impact on their success or not.

Question 67

A good performance objective should be challenging and specific but it need not be measurable or time defined.

Question 68

Scenario planning helps Royal Dutch/Shell make major adjustments in strategies and operations and to be better prepared than competitors for future shocks.

Question 69

On those jobs where performance is difficult to quantify,performance objectives can be stated as verifiable work activities.

Question 70

Staff planners are individuals who lead and coordinate the planning function for an organization as a whole or for one of its major components.

Question 71

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

Question 72

Benchmarking is done to determine what other organizations are doing well and planning on incorporating those good ideas into one's own organization.

Question 73

Companies should provide employees with clear and quantified work goals to help managers and employees identify problems before they interfere with performance.

Question 74

According to the text,great goals should be specific,timely,measurable,referred to,and explained.

Question 75

Scenario planning involves identifying alternative future states of affairs that may occur and then developing plans to deal with each case should it actually occur.

Question 76

In using MBO,managers should avoid having subordinates engage in self-appraisal of their performance results in light of their performance objectives.

Question 77

An important risk associated with the use of staff planners is the communication gap that can develop between staff planners and line managers.

Question 78

Planning specialists are skilled in all steps of the planning process but not in the use of planning tools and techniques.

Question 79

Internal benchmarking refers to those things that are done by both competitors and non-competitors that enable them to achieve superior performance.

Question 80

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.