Exam 1: Introduction to Management and Organizations

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Joe the Manager (Scenario) As a production supervisor, Joe decides on Friday afternoon how many units of output his employees should produce next week, as well as which products will be produced on which days in the department. He also decides which employees are going to be responsible for operating which machines, since all his subordinates are multi-skilled assemblers. On Monday, he hands out work assignment sheets to inform the employees about which machines each will operate for the week. Joe also announces that the schedule will be challenging because of an increase in the targeted number of output units. He encourages his subordinates by telling them that he is confident they will achieve the production targets because they are such hard-working and skilled employees. Then, during the week, he monitors the daily production output and records the number of units that successfully achieved the company's quality standards, as well as the number of units that were unsatisfactory and had to be scrapped. -When Joe decides how many units of output his employees should produce next week and on which days certain products will be run, he is performing which management function?

The three common characteristics of all organizations are distinct purpose, deliberate structure, and material resources.

In order to be considered a manager, an individual must coordinate the work of others.

Technical skills include ________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. The Customer Meeting (Scenario) Kelly, a production supervisor, is responsible for 10 employees who assemble components into a finished product sold to distributors. Kelly reports to Sam, a production manager, who in turn reports to Pat, a general manager, who reports to Chris, a vice-president of operations. Recently, Chris asked Pat to have a meeting with Kelly and Sam regarding some recent customer concerns in the production area. The focus of the meeting was to judge the validity of the customer concerns and to develop a specific plan to address these concerns. -The meeting that Chris has asked Pat to have with Sam and Kelly reflects the growing recognition that __________.

Executive vice-president, president, managing director, chief operating officer, chief executive officer, or chairman of the board are positions associated with which level of management?

Division managers and plant managers are most likely at which level of management?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. A Day in the Life of a CEO (Scenario) Carly spent the day "shadowing" her uncle Dave, who is the CEO of a large consumer electronics company. Carly is a business management major at a local college, and one of her class assignments was to interview a business manager. When she approached her uncle about the assignment, he invited her to follow him around for a day to observe the typical business activities of a top manager. She noted that he spent the day dealing with a variety of issues. First he met with a division manager who was having difficulty achieving production targets due to his inability to motivate the employees. Then they visited the assembly line to inspect a new machine designed to increase production output. Uncle Dave had once been a production engineer, and the department supervisor and assembly workers were impressed by his knowledge of the new machine's operating specifications. At lunch they met with a group of local CEOs from other companies where everything from the new hiring laws to the latest economic reports was discussed. After lunch, Carly attended a meeting where the five-year strategic plan for the entire company was being evaluated. For her uncle it was a typical day in the life of a CEO, but for Carly it had been a day full of information that she could use for her class assignment. -The division manager's inability to motivate his employees may be a sign of weak __________ skills.

The lowest level of management is __________.

Which of the following is a decisional role according to Mintzberg?

Effectiveness refers to getting the most amount of output from the least amount of inputs.

An organization is best defined as __________.

Social media is a communications tool which should not be used to ________.

Michael's strength as a manager lies in his ability to work with people. He is very good at motivating and leading his subordinates. Michael is demonstrating which managerial skill?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. A Day in the Life of a CEO (Scenario) Carly spent the day "shadowing" her uncle Dave, who is the CEO of a large consumer electronics company. Carly is a business management major at a local college, and one of her class assignments was to interview a business manager. When she approached her uncle about the assignment, he invited her to follow him around for a day to observe the typical business activities of a top manager. She noted that he spent the day dealing with a variety of issues. First he met with a division manager who was having difficulty achieving production targets due to his inability to motivate the employees. Then they visited the assembly line to inspect a new machine designed to increase production output. Uncle Dave had once been a production engineer, and the department supervisor and assembly workers were impressed by his knowledge of the new machine's operating specifications. At lunch they met with a group of local CEOs from other companies where everything from the new hiring laws to the latest economic reports was discussed. After lunch, Carly attended a meeting where the five-year strategic plan for the entire company was being evaluated. For her uncle it was a typical day in the life of a CEO, but for Carly it had been a day full of information that she could use for her class assignment. -In evaluating the strategic plan for the entire company, Uncle Dave would need to use his __________ skills.

Ed is a mid-level human resources manager and is involved in discussions between management and the employees union. They are discussing wage issues. Management wants to keep wages at the legal minimum wage. The union wants minimum wage plus an increase of $2.00 per hour. Ed is acting as a(n)______________ on behalf of management.

A finance manager who reads the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance on a regular basis would be performing which role?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. The Busy Day (Scenario) Don Martin, plant manager at Control Systems, Inc., sighed as he sipped his cup of coffee and reviewed his hectic schedule for the day. He has to escort two company tours in the morning: the first to a newspaper reporter who is writing a story on the new plant expansion, and the second to a group of Control Systems managers from the East Coast. Then he has a meeting with the unit manager, Phil Johnson, to discuss Phil's recent drop in performance (a task he does not enjoy). Next, he is spending a couple of hours reviewing the trade journals he receives from his high-tech association and writing up a brief synopsis for his presentation next week to the division vice-president. Finally, in the late afternoon, he will be reviewing a recent equipment malfunction and deciding whether to bring in extra technicians to get the equipment operating again as soon as possible. Whew! It was just another busy day in the life of a manager. -What role will Don perform when he gives the plant tour to the newspaper reporter?

describe the three main types of managerial skills identified by Robert Katz. Which skills are most important to each level of management, and why? Give specific examples to support your discussion.

A key distinction between managerial and nonmanagerial positions is that managers __________.