Exam 7: Management and Leadership

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

________ are specific, short-term, measurable results an organization wants to achieve in order to fulfill its long-term goals.

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

If managers do a good job planning and organizing, there shouldn't be a need for them to be involved with controlling.

Controlling provides managers and workers with feedback that helps them adjust to deviations from plans.

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

Drake, a manager with The Teeny Truck Toy Company, just partook in a meeting that considered the future trends of the toy industry, and identified new challenges and opportunities for Teeny Truck Toys. Drake's participation in this meeting was part of the organizing function of management.

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

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.

Empowerment means that more authority and responsibility is given to top management.

When all is said and done, financial standards such as profit and return on investment are the only relevant measures of how well a firm is meeting its goals.

Mini-Case Lauzy Fare left his position as senior vice president at Blue Skies Electronics a few weeks ago to become the new CEO of Idle Time Gaming. Before joining the new company, Lauzy spent time studying Idle Time's competitive position and talking to employees in all divisions and at all levels of the organization. Based on his findings, Lauzy believes that Idle Time has potential, but also faces some serious challenges if it expects to grow. Lauzy found that when confronted by him, most of Idle Time's professional employees seemed almost afraid to express their opinions. He learned that Otto Craddick, the previous CEO and founder of the company, viewed himself as the boss, and, as such, micromanaged every aspect of the business. This discouraged employees from using their own initiative and ideas to solve problems. For example, Otto required sales and service representatives to get his approval before they made any major commitments to customers. Otto's policy prevented the organization from responding quickly to customer requests, so sales were lost. Unlike his predecessor, Lauzy believes it is important for sales and service personnel to be able to deal with many types of customer requests without needing approval from top management. He is confident that giving employees the authority and flexibility to deal with customers, and providing them with the training and resources to help them do so, will improve morale within the company, create customer satisfaction, and grow revenues. Lauzy also wants to make workers throughout the organization feel more appreciated. He plans to continue meeting with them on a regular basis to seek their advice. He hopes his work colleagues will eventually respond to his leadership style. He has already encouraged middle managers to get employees more involved in decision making, and has suggested some problem-solving techniques the managers could try. Although he thought that changing the rigidity of the company culture would be his first challenge at the new firm, Lauzy quickly realized that there were no standards in place to measure the progress of changes in internal morale, customer satisfaction, and profitability. He has asked managers in those departments to spend more time setting performance standards and then monitoring actual performance. Lauzy is confident that in a relatively short period of time internal changes will lead to good company performance. As a member of top management, Lauzy performs a variety of important tasks. -Lauzy favors problem-solving techniques that allow teams of workers to freely identify and discuss possible solutions to a problem without having their ideas censored. Which of the following is a problem-solving technique that Lauzy is likely to suggest to his managers?

Managers are most effective when they consistently use the same leadership style with every employee assigned to their work group.

Enabling is the term used to describe the process by which employees recognize and respect the authority of managers to issue orders.

Which of the following would be a concern addressed in a strategic plan?

Due to the growth of the Internet, recruiting is less important today than in the past.

Cassidy is concerned about the number of customer complaints she has received regarding the poor service provided by her department. She is convinced her employees are able to provide better service and cut complaints significantly. Cassidy has set a new goal for her department to reduce customer complaints by 15% within six months. This goal is an example of the type of performance standard needed for effective controlling.

Because of the complex nature of their jobs, top managers spend most of their time developing and using technical skills.

________ skills include the ability to perform tasks of a specific department or job, such as selling (marketing) or bookkeeping (accounting).

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