Deck 7: Management and Leadership

Question 1

Despite all of the changes in the business environment, the basic way a manager performs his or her job has remained remarkably constant.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Managers in progressive firms of all kinds tend to be friendly, and treat employees as partners.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Managers in progressive organizations tend to emphasize teamwork and cooperation rather than discipline and giving orders.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Due to the fact that employees today often know much more about technology and the technical aspects of their jobs than their managers do, progressive managers emphasize teamwork and cooperation as a strategy for getting work done.

Question 5

Managers must earn the trust of their employees.

Question 6

As a management function, the main focus of controlling is to keep complete and up-to-date records of the organization's financial transactions for tax and regulatory purposes.

Question 7

Because of their importance and skills, few managers lost their jobs in the recent economic crisis.

Question 8

A modern manager's main job is to issue orders, then follow up to make sure employees do as they were told.

Question 9

In most high-tech industries, the best way to respond quickly to rapid technological changes is to keep most authority and responsibility in the hands of a few key managers who provide precise, detailed directions to the workers.

Question 10

John is the general manager of a retail outlet. By emphasizing teamwork and acting in a role of coach rather than boss, John is considered to be a modern manager.

Question 11

One trend of the leading management function is to empower employees, giving them as much freedom as possible to become self-directed and self-motivated.

Question 12

Managers make decisions about how to use organizational resources to accomplish goals.

Question 13

The four key management functions are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Question 14

Given the lack of discipline and short attention spans of today's workers, modern managers must watch their workers closely, set strict rules, and vigorously enforce policies.

Question 15

The best way to get people to do what a manager wants is for the manager to reprimand those who don't do things correctly.

Question 16

Financing is one of the four key functions of management.

Question 17

Leading is the management function of designing the structure of the organization so that everyone can function together.

Question 18

The management function that involves guiding, training, and motivating others to work toward the achievement of an organization's goals is called leading.

Question 19

As an office manager, Sylvie consistently tells her employees what to do, watches over their tasks, and reprimands those who don't listen to her orders. Sylvie is a modern manager.

Question 20

The main job of managers today is to watch over people to be sure they do what the manager asks of them.

Question 21

A statement about why an organization exists and what it is trying to achieve is called the organization's directive.

Question 22

Planning is the function of management that includes anticipating future trends and determining the best strategies and tactics to achieve an organization's goals and objectives.

Question 23

Goals are broad, long-term accomplishments an organization wants to achieve.

Question 24

Goals tend to be broad and focus on the long term while objectives tend to be specific and more short term in their focus.

Question 25

Today, a mission statement should also address social responsibility.

Question 26

Progressive managers consider planning to be of little importance in today's rapidly changing business environment.

Question 27

Harold is a no-nonsense boss who believes that the best way for an organization to achieve its goals is for workers to follow their boss's orders. Thus, he tells workers exactly what to do and how to do it. Harold's approach is an example of directing.

Question 28

Beth has spent the last two hours going over some consumer surveys to see how well her company is achieving its goal of improving customer satisfaction. Beth's efforts are an example of the controlling function of management.

Question 29

Planning is a key management function because other management functions depend on having a good plan.

Question 30

A vision is a detailed set of specific steps that a firm must take to achieve its short-run objectives.

Question 31

A mission statement outlines the fundamental purposes of an organization.

Question 32

Rita is a manager of a medium-sized service company. She is currently involved in redesigning her department to ensure that employees and other resources can respond more quickly and efficiently to the needs of its customers. Rita's efforts are part of the organizing function of management.

Question 33

Managers focus on making efficient use of their organization's human resources, but leave decisions about the efficient use of other resources such as buildings, machinery, and supplies to engineers and accountants.

Question 34

Planning involves setting the organizational vision, goals and objectives.

Question 35

While goals are measurable, objectives are not.

Question 36

A vision gives the organization a sense of purpose and a set of values that unite employees toward a common destiny.

Question 37

Jack, a manager with Tiny Tots Toy Company, has just participated in a meeting that looked at future trends in the toy industry, and identified new challenges and opportunities for Tiny Tots. Jack's participation in this meeting was part of the organizing function of management.

Question 38

A vision is the overall explanation of why an organization exists and where it is trying to head.

Question 39

Today's progressive organizations are designed around the needs of the customer. The idea is to organize systems to be responsive to customer needs.

Question 40

In many smaller firms the manager's role is to direct the employees, telling them exactly what to do.

Question 41

Strategic planning is now much easier than it used to be because managers have access to very reliable computerized forecasting tools.

Question 42

Instead of creating detailed strategic plans, the leaders of market-based companies (companies that respond quickly to environmental changes) set flexible directions so as to allow for change and seize opportunities when they come.

Question 43

Managers or teams of managers at the lower levels of an organization normally develop strategic plans, but top managers do most of the tactical planning.

Question 44

Tactical planning deals with setting long-range goals, while strategic planning develops the specific strategies needed to achieve the organization's operational goals.

Question 45

One example of tactical planning is setting annual budgets and deciding on other details and activities necessary to meet the strategic objectives.

Question 46

The SWOT analysis helps firms identify competitive threats and market opportunities.

Question 47

The first step in the rational decision-making model is to identify alternative solutions.

Question 48

Objectives should be expressed as broad, general principles rather than as specific short-term results.

Question 49

Continuous planning is not necessary, because plans that worked well in the past are likely to continue to work well in the future.

Question 50

Contingency planning involves developing alternative courses of action to be used if the primary plans do not achieve the desired results.

Question 51

Today's business environment changes so rapidly that strategic planning is becoming more difficult and subject to change.

Question 52

Operational planning looks at the organization as a whole, while strategic planning focuses on specific departmental actions.

Question 53

Strategic planning determines the major goals of the organization.

Question 54

One step in the rational decision-making model is to develop alternatives.

Question 55

Goals are developed and agreed to by management so that the workers can follow them.

Question 56

Decision making occurs in all management functions.

Question 57

An analysis of the business environment helps managers identify threats and opportunities that face their firm.

Question 58

The last step in the rational decision-making model is to determine whether the decision was a good one and follow up.

Question 59

Many cities and businesses are now developing contingency plans to respond to potential terrorist attacks.

Question 60

Planning is a continuous process.

Question 61

The top managers at the Sax Department Store find that their employees do not really share a common sense of purpose or have a common set of values. This suggests that top management has not provided a clear vision for the firm.

Question 62

Jamika is a manager at a well-known retail store. Each morning she determines the order in which store projects are performed; she sets work schedules for employees and standards that must be met. These activities suggest that Jamika is involved in operational planning.

Question 63

Contingency planning is most important in markets where conditions are relatively stable and market growth is predictable.

Question 64

The SWOT analysis focuses only on the internal activities of the firm, while a PERT analysis is used to review the external environment in which the firm operates.

Question 65

The recent recession eliminated many middle managers giving the remaining managers more employees to supervise.

Question 66

After management has created a plan of action, the focus turns to the controlling function to recheck and often redo the plan.

Question 67

Brainstorming is coming up with as many solutions as possible in a short period of time with a focus toward not censoring anyone's ideas.

Question 68

Lucy is part of the top management team at Cloudy Daze Rain Gear, a company that produces umbrellas, raincoats, hats and all-weather shoes. As a member of top management, Lucy is more likely to be involved in strategic planning than in tactical planning.

Question 69

A CEO is often the president of the firm and is responsible for developing the strategic plans.

Question 70

PMI is a problem-solving technique that involves listing pluses, minuses and implications.

Question 71

In order to ensure effective implementation, managers should make only one set of plans and carefully follow them to ensure that the organization's objectives are achieved.

Question 72

Tactical planning involves making decisions about which customers to serve, what products or services to sell, and the geographic areas in which the firm will compete.

Question 73

Problem solving is more formal than using the rational decision-making model.

Question 74

Sharon needed to solve a problem quickly, so she called together the work team in her department and asked them to list as many possible solutions as they could come up with in a short period of time. During the process she encouraged responses and avoided censoring what her workers said. Sharon is utilizing a problem-solving technique known as brainstorming.

Question 75

Organizing involves allocating resources, assigning tasks, and establishing procedures for accomplishing the organizational objectives.

Question 76

Middle managers usually are responsible for tactical planning and controlling.

Question 77

Branch and plant managers and division heads are classified as first-line managers.

Question 78

A mission statement should provide a detailed explanation of how a company will achieve its objectives.

Question 79

The visual illustration of the relationships among the people within an organization that shows who is accountable for the work and who reports to whom is called a Gantt Chart.

Question 80

Supervisory managers are those who directly oversee the activities of workers and evaluate their daily performance.