Deck 1: Introducing Modern Management: Concepts and Skills

Question 1

Efficient means that a small proportion of total resources contributes to productivity during the manufacturing process; inefficient means that a large proportion of resources contributes to productivity.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Planning is concerned only with organizational success in the short term, while organizing is concerned with the more distant future (long term).

Answer 2

False

Question 3

As one moves from lower-level management to upper-level management, conceptual skills become more important and technical skills less important.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

To increase the probability of being successful, managers should have competence in recognizing. This involves checking with people before making decisions that affect them, encouraging participation in decision-making, and using the ideas and suggestions of others.

Question 5

The exploration stage occurs at the beginning of a career and is characterized by self-analysis and the exploration of different types of available jobs.

Question 6

In an organization, short-term planning, clarifying objectives of jobs in organizations, and monitoring operations and performance are task-related activities.

Question 7

Organizational resources are of four basic types: planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

Question 8

Influencing is the process of assigning the tasks developed under the planning function to various individuals or groups within the organization.

Question 9

Technical skills involve the ability to apply specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques and procedures.

Question 10

Providing recognition for achievements and contributions, developing skill and confidence of organization members are change-related activities.

Question 11

An organization that wants to retain an employee may need to assist that employee's spouse in his or her career development as well.

Question 12

Human skills, unlike technical skills, involve the ability to see the organization as a whole.

Question 13

The four basic management functions are planning, organizing, influencing and controlling.

Question 14

Management jobs vary but management principles are universal. The basic ingredients of successful management are applicable to all organizations.

Question 15

Planning involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational goals, outlining how the tasks must be performed, and indicating when they should be performed.

Question 16

A career is a sequence of work-related positions occupied by a person over the course of a lifetime.

Question 17

Controlling is the management function through which managers compare present performance to preestablished performance standards.

Question 18

The second stage in career evolution is the establishment stage, during which individuals about 25 to 45 years old start to become more productive, or higher performers.

Question 19

Organizing is also commonly referred to as motivating, leading, directing, or actuating.

Question 20

Career plateauing is a period of declining performance and productivity.

Question 21

________ is the management function through which managers compare present performance to preestablished performance standards.

A) Organizing
B) Influencing
C) Controlling
D) Monitoring
E) Planning

Question 22

Becky's department has seen a number of layoffs in the last two months, and employee morale is very low. This is affecting the work atmosphere and productivity is declining. In this situation, the department manager's primary task will be _______.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 23

Which of the following statements is true for the management function?

A) It reaches goals by working with and through people.
B) It is a one-time function in an organization.
C) It is a series of continuing and unrelated activities.
D) It involves and concentrates on reaching individual goals.
E) It does not consider the people aspect of organizations.

Question 24

Gathering information that measures recent performance within the organization is part of the ________ management function.

A) motivating
B) controlling
C) influencing
D) organizing
E) planning

Question 25

Neil is the plant manager at Serieux Manufacturing. He has just been given the production targets for the month and has determined the activities necessary to achieve these. He now has to decide who will perform the various activities best so that the output will be maximized, and must assign the activities to those workers. Neil is performing the ________ function of management.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 26

Which of the following is an error managers make during the controlling stage of management?

A) not establishing departments appropriately
B) not taking the time to communicate properly with organization members
C) establishing improper communication networks
D) not monitoring progress in carrying out plans
E) not exploring enough viable alternatives for reaching objectives

Question 27

________ can be defined as guiding the activities of organization members in appropriate directions.

A) Organizing
B) Influencing
C) Controlling
D) Monitoring
E) Planning

Question 28

Jacob, an upper-level manager, recently saw a project fail because he did not establish objectives for all important organizational areas during the initial stages. Jacob made a mistake during the ________ stage of the management process.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 29

________ includes determining tasks and groupings of work. It should not be rigid, but adaptable and flexible to meet challenges as circumstances change.

A) Organizing
B) Influencing
C) Controlling
D) Monitoring
E) Planning

Question 30

________ involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational goals, outlining how the tasks must be performed, and indicating when they should be performed.

A) Organizing
B) Influencing
C) Controlling
D) Monitoring
E) Planning

Question 31

Which of the following is an error managers make during the organizing stage of management?

A) not exploring enough viable alternatives for reaching objectives
B) not establishing appropriate performance standards
C) establishing improper communication networks
D) not monitoring progress in carrying out plans
E) establishing inappropriate spans of management

Question 32

The primary task of management is to encourage individual activity that will ________.

A) promote the individual's growth
B) always produce outstanding results
C) utilize the maximum amount of resources
D) lead to reaching organizational goals
E) always generate the highest revenue

Question 33

Gayle has not established appropriate performance standards for her team. This is a fault in the ________ function of management.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 34

________ managers run manufacturing operations that produce the clothes, food, or other products.

A) Personnel
B) Plant
C) Sales
D) Accounting
E) Human Resources

Question 35

Which of the following is an error managers make during the planning stage of management?

A) not establishing departments appropriately
B) not emphasizing coordination of organization members
C) not exploring enough viable alternatives for reaching objectives
D) not monitoring progress in carrying out plans
E) not taking the time to communicate properly with organization members

Question 36

Motivating employees to perform better so that they can achieve the organization's goals is known as ________.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 37

When devising goals for his team to achieve, which of the following points should Kevin consider most important?

A) his career goals
B) individual abilities
C) internal politics
D) organizational goals
E) employee goals

Question 38

Seth, a manager in a growing organization, believes that creating departments leads to the formation of barriers in an organization. Not establishing departments appropriately while ________ can be a huge management mistake.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 39

Roland, a firm believer in management policies, always manages his team by the book. His team members agree that he is more of a manager than a leader. This indicates that Roland should work on ________ his team.

A) organizing
B) influencing
C) controlling
D) monitoring
E) planning

Question 40

Sara is a manager in a food processing company. Her primary function is to see that organizational goals are achieved. Which of the following must she discourage in order to promote this?

A) Ben spends a lot of time on Facebook, but gets his work done on time.
B) Ted organizes an inter-departmental soccer game every month.
C) Ashley's CSR activities for the company sometimes delay her work.
D) During lull periods at work, Sally works on her Master's thesis.
E) Clare is the top performer in the department, but has no interest in the industry.

Question 41

Managerial efficiency is the proportion of total organizational resources that contribute to productivity during the manufacturing process. The ________ this proportion, the more ________ the manager.

A) lower; effective
B) higher; efficient
C) lower; efficient
D) higher; ineffective
E) higher; inefficient

Question 42

According to Katz , technical skills involve ________.

A) working with people, both individuals and groups, to achieve organizational goals
B) understanding how the organization relates to its environment
C) working with people, but not their attitudes and communication
D) applying specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques
E) understanding how changes in one part of the organization affect the rest of it

Question 43

As a manager in a manufacturing plant, Rex is not utilizing all his resources during the production process, but due to the high demand for the plant's products, he can get an extremely high price per unit sold and thus absorb inefficiency costs. In this scenario, as a manager Rex is ________.

A) efficient without being effective
B) effective without being efficient
C) effective and efficient
D) neither effective nor efficient
E) highly efficient but not effective

Question 44

Sarah's team is relatively new and inexperienced. As the manager, she needs to motivate the team and encourage them to cooperate with each other to perform better. According to Katz, this involves using ________ skills.

A) technical
B) moral
C) conceptual
D) human
E) technological

Question 45

Management principles are considered to be universal because _________.

A) production processes and strategies remain the same across organizations
B) employees in all organizations have the same skill sets
C) all organizations have the same organizational hierarchy
D) organizational goals and methods do not change from organization to organization
E) the principles of planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling are the same across organizations

Question 46

If a manager reaches goals but wastes resources, the manager is considered to be ________.

A) efficient and effective
B) neither effective nor ineffective
C) ineffective and efficient
D) effective and inefficient
E) inefficient and ineffective

Question 47

Which of the following situations best demonstrates an error made during the organizing stage of management?

A) LMN Tree has embarked on a new long-term project. Though the project is progressing, employees feel that there were many better ways to achieve the desired result.
B) Vista International took on a project at short notice and wasn't able to go into details of the strategy. As a result, some departments have clear objectives, while others do not.
C) The project team at Walton's is dissatisfied with the functioning of the department, but has no communication system through which they can convey their concerns to the management.
D) Though DLB's projects are usually very similar, employees have no way of comparing performance as there are no set standards.
E) Two teams at Crimson Blue had been working separately on a project for three weeks before they discovered that there was a lot of duplicated effort.

Question 48

Management skill is ________.

A) the specialized knowledge employees require to complete their tasks
B) the ability to carry out the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources
C) the method by which managers plan for unforseen projects
D) the efficiency and effectiveness with which managers interact with the environment outside the company
E) a product of the culture of a certain country that is limited to managers of that culture

Question 49

In terms of management efficiency during the manufacturing process, efficient means that ________ .

A) a small proportion of total resources contributes to productivity
B) a small proportion of total skilled employees contributes to productivity
C) an equal proportion of skilled and unskilled employees contributes to productivity
D) a large proportion of total resources contributes to productivity
E) a small proportion of total human and capital resources contributes to productivity

Question 50

Ben is a manager at Transit Logistics, a logistics company involved in transportation and storage. He is in charge of monitoring the schedules of the truck drivers who transport the goods. In this scenario, the capital resource of the organization is the ________.

A) work-schedule
B) transported goods
C) Ben
D) drivers
E) trucks

Question 51

________ resources refer to the machines used during the manufacturing process.

A) Hardware
B) Capital
C) Technology
D) Raw material
E) Monetary

Question 52

Which of the following situations demonstrates effectiveness but not efficiency?

A) Workers at MNS worked overtime for two weeks, but were unable to achieve their target production.
B) Managers at MNS aimed to complete a particular project by August, but only completed it in September.
C) The manager told Stella to do a report, even though Ray was better qualified for the task. However, Stella managed it successfully.
D) Following a number of layoffs, Gianna's team was very demotivated and hence the performance of the department suffered.
E) MNS aimed to complete construction of the new plant in two weeks, but a workers' strike delayed construction.

Question 53

Green Energy Inc. (GEI) is involved in obtaining energy from natural resources. As a manager at this organization, Jim must use his resources and strive to be both effective and efficient. To be an effective manager Jim must ________.

A) focus on GEI's monetary resources more than its human resources
B) expand GEI's capital and help the organization's growth, even if that is not their goal
C) update knowledge by organizing training for all managers
D) use GEI's resources to attain the organization's goals
E) maximize the use of GEI's human and capital resources

Question 54

Robert L. Katz indicates that three types of skills are important for successful management performance; one among these is ________.

A) cultural skills
B) conceptual skills
C) linguistic skills
D) time-management skills
E) moral skills

Question 55

The more resources unused during the production process, the more ________ the manager.

A) inefficient
B) efficient
C) ineffective
D) effective
E) efficient and ineffective

Question 56

________ resources refer to the ingredients used directly in the manufacturing of products.

A) Hardware
B) Capital
C) Technology
D) Raw material
E) Monetary

Question 57

________ refer to all the organizational assets available for activation during the production process.

A) Supplies
B) Plans
C) Technologies
D) Strategies
E) Resources

Question 58

Capital resources in an organization are ________.

A) the net profits the organization generates at the end of the financial year
B) the ingredients used directly in the manufacturing of products
C) the machines used during the manufacturing process
D) all the financial assets that the organization possesses
E) the amounts of money that managers use to purchase goods and services for the organization

Question 59

A manager is considered efficient and effective if the manager ________.

A) does not reach goals and does not waste resources
B) reaches goals and does not waste resources
C) does not reach goals and wastes resources
D) reaches goals and wastes resources
E) wastes resources on unattainable goals

Question 60

According to Katz, human skills are required for ________.

A) designing work processes and procedures
B) understanding how the organization relates to its environment
C) understanding how changes in one part of the organization affect the rest of it
D) applying specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques
E) working with individual and group interests

Question 61

People-related activities within an organization include ________.

A) clarifying objectives of jobs in organizations
B) consulting when making decisions
C) proposing new strategies and vision
D) encouraging innovative thinking
E) short-term planning

Question 62

To help increase her probability of becoming a successful manager, Beth is advised to improve her skills in clarifying roles. In order to improve her competency in clarifying roles, Beth should effectively ________.

A) determine how to schedule activities
B) check with people before making decisions that affect them
C) provide praise and recognition for effective performance
D) provide opportunities for skill development
E) explain task objectives and performance expectations

Question 63

Which of the following is the correct representation of the stages in a career?

A) establishment; exploration; maintenance; decline
B) exploration; maintenance; establishment; decline
C) establishment; maintenance; plateauing; decline
D) exploration; establishment; maintenance; decline
E) establishment; plateauing; exploration; maintenance

Question 64

As a manager moves from lower-level management to upper-level management, ________.

A) conceptual skills become more important and technical skills less important
B) technical skills become more important and human skills less important
C) human skills become more important and conceptual skills less important
D) conceptual skills and human skills become less important
E) technical skills and human skills become more important

Question 65

________ skills involve acting considerate, showing sympathy when someone is upset or anxious, and providing encouragement.

A) Recognizing
B) Consulting
C) Supporting
D) Developing
E) Clarifying roles

Question 66

Which of the following is an example of a people-related activity in an organization?

A) Jonathan plans the teams' schedule for the next three months.
B) Anoia Systems awards employees who perform well each month.
C) FRO keeps track of changes in government policy that could affect the company.
D) Faced with a volatile market, Tiffany's invited employees to provide suggestions to change the company strategy.
E) Claire monitors production to see if it meets company targets.

Question 67

Sarah has been working full-time at Eves Golf Inc. for three years. While at college, she worked as a part-time employee at Burger King and as an office assistant for a manufacturing organization. She was recently promoted to manager, and manages a small team that is responsible for procuring raw materials for their line of golf bags, hats, and other accessories. Considering that careers evolve through a series of stages, in this scenario Sarah's career is at the ________ stage.

A) exploration
B) establishment
C) maintenance
D) plateauing
E) decline

Question 68

According to Katz, conceptual skills involve ________.

A) working with people, both individuals and groups, to achieve organizational goals
B) working with processes or physical objects dealing with production
C) working with groups, but not individuals, to achieve organizational goals
D) applying specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques
E) understanding how various functions of the organization complement one another

Question 69

According to Katz , applying specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques is a characteristic of ________.

A) interpersonal skills
B) human skills
C) conceptual skills
D) technical skills
E) strategic skills

Question 70

In an organization, task-related activities include ________.

A) empowering others to solve problems
B) consulting when making decisions
C) providing recognition for achievements and contributions
D) encouraging innovative thinking
E) short-term planning

Question 71

Nathan is the plant manager for Arwen Manufacturing. Though he does not work hands-on on the manufacturing process, he needs to know the ins and outs of the processes, so that he can guide his employees effectively and step in to help if necessary. According to Katz, this involves developing Nathan's ________ skills.

A) technical
B) moral
C) conceptual
D) human
E) interpersonal

Question 72

To help increase her probability of becoming a successful manager, Ruth is advised to improve her consulting skills. In order to improve her competency in consulting, Ruth should ________.

A) determine how to schedule activities efficiently
B) check with people before making decisions that affect them
C) provide praise and recognition for effective performance
D) provide opportunities for skill development
E) evaluate individual and unit performance

Question 73

________ skills are very important to managers at the lower, middle and top levels.

A) Human
B) Conceptual
C) Technical
D) Strategic
E) Tactical

Question 74

At Anoia Systems, processes remain the same year after year, and there is little innovation in the products or types of clients. This situation is unlikely to change. Most employees have been with the company for more than five years, and are well-versed with their job requirements. Employees have the skills to accomplish their jobs, but they have become satisfied with just getting by and are not motivated to improve performance. Which of the following managerial skills will help motivate employees to perform better?

A) clarifying roles
B) recognizing
C) short-term planning
D) consulting
E) supporting

Question 75

Jonah has been team manager for eight years now. In that time, his performance has remained consistently satisfactory, but there have been no drastic changes. A junior colleague was recently promoted to department head and Jonah now reports to him. Jonah's career can best be described as being in the ________ stage.

A) exploration
B) establishment
C) maintenance
D) plateauing
E) decline

Question 76

Sandra is in the top management at Silica Inc. A key policy governing the manufacturing processes was recently changed, and Sandra needs to analyze the effects of the change on the various departments of the company and predict the effect on the output. This process involves using her ________ skills.

A) technical
B) moral
C) conceptual
D) human
E) interpersonal

Question 77

In any organization, change-related activities include ________.

A) clarifying objectives of jobs in organizations
B) consulting when making decisions
C) providing recognition for achievements and contributions
D) encouraging innovative thinking
E) short-term planning

Question 78

The first stage in career evolution is the ________ stage.

A) establishment
B) decline
C) exploration
D) plateauing
E) maintenance

Question 79

________ skills involve determining how to use personnel and resources to accomplish a task efficiently

A) Recognizing
B) Consulting
C) Short-term planning
D) Developing
E) Clarifying roles

Question 80

________ skills involve checking with people before making decisions that affect them, encouraging participation in decision making, and using the ideas and suggestions of others.

A) Recognizing
B) Consulting
C) Supporting
D) Developing
E) Clarifying roles