Questions and Answers of Contemporary Management

1. Where do you believe each product is in its life cycle?
2. How do the products overlap? In other words, might some products make others reach the decline stage of development?
LO10-1 Identify the factors that influence managers’ choice of an organizational structure.
LO10-2 Explain how managers group tasks into jobs that are motivating and satisfying for employees.
LO10-3 Describe the types of organizational structures managers can design, and explain why they choose one structure over another.
LO10-4 Explain why managers must coordinate jobs, functions, and divisions using the hierarchy of authority and integrating mechanisms.
LO10-5 List the four sources of organizational culture, and explain why and how a company’s culture can lead to competitive advantage.
2. Using the job characteristics model as a guide, discuss how a manager can enrich or enlarge subordinates’jobs. [LO10-2]
6. What is organizational culture, and how does it affect the way employees behave? [LO10-5]Action
1. Look at the organizational chart. What type of structure does Hitachi have?
2. Click on the message from top management. What does this information tell you about how the structure might change or stay the same in the future?
3. Find the Hitachi Vision Book. How will the journey toward its vision affect the structure of Hitachi?
1. Using the information in the article alone, how do you believe Microsoft is currently organized?
2. What impact do you think this acquisition will have on Microsoft’s organizational culture? On LinkedIn’s organizational culture?
3. Based on recent Microsoft acquisitions that have not appeared to be successful, do you think the LinkedIn deal makes sense from an organizational standpoint?Explain your reasoning.
LO11-1 Define organizational control, and explain how it increases organizational effectiveness.
LO11-2 Describe the four steps in the control process and the way it operates over time.
LO11-3 Identify the main output controls, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages as means of coordinating and motivating employees.
LO11-4 Identify the main behavior controls, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages as a means of coordinating and motivating employees.
LO11-5 Discuss the relationship between organizational control and change, and explain why managing change is a vital management task.
3. Why is it important for managers to involve subordinates in the control process? [LO11-3, 11-4]
5. What are the main obstacles to organizational change?What techniques can managers use to overcome these obstacles? [LO11-1, 11-5]Action
1. Either by yourself or in a group, think about the ethical implications of organizations’ monitoring and collecting information about their employees. What kinds of information is it ethical or
1. Do you notice any common values and norms in the top companies?
2. Is there anything about a particular company’s culture or structure that would make you want to work there?
1. How can individual farmers use the four steps in the control process to take advantage of information gathered by weatherprediction technology?
2. From a financial performance perspective, what measures can farmers use to determine if weather-prediction technology should be part of their overall business plan?
3. Do you think the agriculture industry will be able to successfully manage the changes brought about by this type of technology? Explain your reasoning.
LO12-1 Explain why strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage.
LO12-2 Describe the steps managers take to recruit and select organizational members.
LO12-3 Discuss the training and development options that ensure organizational members can effectively perform their jobs.
LO12-4 Explain why performance appraisal and feedback are such crucial activities, and list the choices managers must make in designing effective performance appraisal and feedback procedures.
LO12-5 Explain the issues managers face in determining levels of pay and benefits.
LO12-6 Understand the role that labor relations play in the effective management of human resources.
6. Explain why union membership is becoming more diverse. [LO12-6]Action
1. Either individually or in a group, think about the ethical implications of managers’ becoming friendly with their subordinates.
2. Do you think managers should feel free to socialize and become good friends with their subordinates outside the workplace if they so desire? Why or why not?
2. Describe the training and development the engineers, the clerical/secretarial workers, and the MBAs will receive.
1. What are the potential advantages of online job searching and recruiting? What are the potential disadvantages?
2. Would you ever rely on a website like this to help you find a position? Why or why not?
1. From a managerial perspective, what are some potential disadvantages of ongoing, informal performance reviews?
2. From an employee viewpoint, do you think replacing small annual increases with bonuses based on performance is equitable? Why or why not?
3. What can managers do to prepare their employees for a shift away from annual reviews and annual salary increases?
LO13-1 Explain what motivation is and why managers need to be concerned about it.
LO13-2 Describe from the perspectives of expectancy theory and equity theory what managers should do to have a highly motivated workforce.
LO13-3 Explain how goals and needs motivate people and what kinds of goals are especially likely to result in high performance.
LO13-4 Identify the motivation lessons that managers can learn from operant conditioning theory and social learning theory.
LO13-5 Explain why and how managers can use pay as a major motivation tool.
5. Discuss why managers should always try to use positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement. [LO13-4]Action
7. Interview a manager in an organization in your community to determine the extent to which the manager takes advantage of vicarious learning to promote high motivation among subordinates.[LO13-3]
2. Under what conditions might contingent pay be most stressful, and what steps can managers take to try to help their subordinates perform effectively and not experience excessive amounts of stress?
1. Would a shortened workday motivate you to do a better job?Why or why not?
2. Do you think a shortened workday would help improve productivity and decrease worker stress levels? Explain.
3. How might providing employees with a shortened workday contribute to motivation from an equity theory perspective? From a need theory perspective?
LO3-1 Describe the various personality traits that affect how managers think, feel, and behave.
LO3-2 Explain what values and attitudes are, and describe their impact on managerial action.
LO3-3 Appreciate how moods and emotions influence all members of an organization.
LO3-4 Describe the nature of emotional intelligence and its role in management.
LO3-5 Define organizational culture, and explain how managers both create and are influenced by organizational culture.
4. Why might managers be disadvantaged by low levels of emotional intelligence? [LO3-4]Action
7. Go to an upscale clothing store in your neighborhood, and go to a clothing store that is definitely not upscale.Observe the behavior of employees in each store as well as the store’s
1. What values are emphasized in this culture?
2. What norms do members of this organization follow?
2. Because of measurement error and validity problems, some relatively trustworthy people may “fail” an honesty test given by an employer. What are the ethical implications of trustworthy people
1. Warren Buffett is known for his“hands off” management style when it comes to managing his own management team. Do you think this strategy has helped him become so successful? Explain your
2. Do you think Buffett is high or low on emotional intelligence? Why do you think this?
3. If money were not an issue, with what famous businessperson would you want to have a meal?Explain your choice.
LO4-1 Explain the relationship between ethics and the law.
LO4-2 Differentiate between the claims of the different stakeholder groups that are affected by managers and their companies’ actions.
LO4-3 Describe four rules that can help companies and their managers act in ethical ways.
LO4-4 Discuss why it is important for managers to behave ethically.
LO4-5 Identify the four main sources of managerial ethics.
LO4-6 Distinguish among the four main approaches toward social responsibility that a company can take.
1. Does my decision fall within the accepted values or standards that typically apply in business activity today?
2. Am I willing to see the decision communicated to all people and groups affected by it—for example, by having it reported on TV or via social media?
3. Would the people with whom I have a significant personal relationship, such as family members, friends, or even managers in other organizations, approve of the decision?
1. What is the relationship between ethics and the law?[LO4-1]
5. What are the main determinants of business ethics?[LO4-5]Action
1. You are planning to leave your job to go work for a competitor; your boss invites you to an important meeting where you will learn about new products your company will be bringing out next year.
2. You’re the manager of sales in an expensive sports car dealership. A young executive who has just received a promotion comes in and wants to buy a car that you know is out of her price range. Do
3. You sign a contract to manage a young rock band, and that group agrees to let you produce their next five records, for which they will receive royalties of 5 percent. Their first record is a smash
2. Why can you chew gum on the street but not in a church?
1. Select a company on the list and go to that company’s web page. How would you describe the company’s organizational ethics?
2. What do you believe are the occupational ethics of the people who work at the company?
LO5-1 Discuss the increasing diversity of the workforce and the organizational environment.
LO5-2 Explain the central role that managers play in the effective management of diversity.
LO5-3 Explain why the effective management of diversity is both an ethical and a business imperative.
LO5-4 Discuss how perception and the use of schemas can result in unfair treatment.
LO5-5 List the steps managers can take to manage diversity effectively.
LO5-6 Identify the two major forms of sexual harassment and how they can be eliminated.
2. Why are workers who test positive for HIV sometimes discriminated against? [LO5-1, 5-4]
3. Why would some employees resent the accommodations made for employees with disabilities that are dictated by the Americans with Disabilities Act?[LO5-1, 5-4]
6. How does the similar-to-me effect influence your own behavior and decisions? [LO5-4]
9. Think about a situation in which you would have benefited from mentoring but a mentor was not available. What could you have done to try to get the help of a mentor in this situation? [LO5-5]Action
1. Why do you think there is a lack of diversity in the biotech industry?
2. In what ways might stereotypes and biases contribute to a lack of diversity in the biotech industry?
3. What are some steps that decision makers and managers in the health sciences field can take to increase diversity?
LO6-1 Explain why the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond appropriately to the global environment is crucial for managerial success.
LO6-2 Differentiate between the global task and global general environments.
LO6-3 Identify the main forces in the global task and general environments, and describe the challenges that each force presents to managers.

Showing 300 - 400 of 1381