Questions and Answers of Contemporary Management

LO6-4 Explain why the global environment is becoming more open and competitive, and identify the forces behind the process of globalization that increase the opportunities, complexities, challenges,
LO6-5 Discuss why national cultures differ and why it is important that managers be sensitive to the effects of falling trade barriers and regional trade associations on the political and social
5. After the passage of NAFTA, many U.S. companies shifted production operations to Mexico to take advantage of lower labor costs and lower standards for environmental and worker protection. As a
6. Choose an organization, and ask a manager in that organization to list the number and strengths of forces in the organization’s task environment. Ask the manager to pay particular attention to
1. What could Home Depot have done to avoid its mistake?
2. In what cultures might Home Depot find better success?
1. Find a company on the list that is based in a country other than your home country. How has that company had to adapt to become a global organization?
2. What are the forces in the global task environment and in the global general environment that affect the organization?
3. What criteria are used to select the great places to work? Do you agree that these criteria are what make an organization a great place to work?
1. Do you think WeChat would be as successful in other cultures as it is in China?
2. If you were a manager for a U.S.company in China, would you allow your local employees to use the app as part of their daily business activities?
3. Do you see Facebook or Twitter becoming the dominant social platform in the United States the way WeChat has taken over the Chinese way of life?
LO7-1 Understand the nature of managerial decision making, differentiate between programmed and nonprogrammed decisions, and explain why nonprogrammed decision making is a complex, uncertain process.
LO7-2 Describe the six steps managers should take to make the best decisions, and explain how cognitive biases can lead managers to make poor decisions.
LO7-3 Identify the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making, and describe techniques that can improve it.
LO7-4 Explain the role that organizational learning and creativity play in helping managers to improve their decisions.
LO7-5 Describe how managers can encourage and promote entrepreneurship to create a learning organization, and differentiate between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs
6. What is the difference between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship? [LO7-5]Action
1. To what extent are the decisions entrepreneurs make nonprogrammed decisions?
2. To what extent are the decisions entrepreneurs make characterized by risk and uncertainty?
3. What roles do creativity and learning from feedback play in entrepreneurial success?
LO8-1 Identify the three main steps of the planning process and explain the relationship between planning and strategy.
LO8-2 Describe some techniques managers can use to improve the planning process so they can better predict the future and mobilize organizational resources to meet future contingencies.
LO8-3 Differentiate among the main types of business-level strategies and explain how they give an organization a competitive advantage that may lead to superior performance.
LO8-4 Differentiate among the main types of corporate-level strategies and explain how they are used to strengthen a company’s business-level strategy and competitive advantage.
LO8-5 Describe the vital role managers play in implementing strategies to achieve an organization’s mission and goals.
5. What is the difference between vertical integration and related diversification? [LO8-4]Action
1. Which corporate-level strategy is REI using?
2. Describe some of REI’s stewardship efforts and how they impact the company’s corporate strategies.3. What makes REI different from other outdoor gear and apparel retailers?
LO9-1 Explain the role of functional strategy and value chain management in achieving superior quality, efficiency, innovation, and responsiveness to customers.
LO9-2 Describe what customers want, and explain why it is so important for managers to be responsive to their needs.
LO9-3 Explain why achieving superior quality is so important, and understand the challenges facing managers and organizations that seek to implement total quality management.
LO9-4 Explain why achieving superior efficiency is so important, and understand the different kinds of techniques that need to be employed to increase efficiency.
LO9-5 Differentiate between two forms of innovation, and explain why innovation and product development are crucial components of the search for competitive advantage.
5. What is innovation, and what are some strategies managers can use to develop successful new products? [LO9-5]Action
1. What is the output of the organization?
1. What tips about improving your personal work flow do you want to try out after reading the tips, and why?
2. What products would be most helpful to your new organization system, and why?
1. Describe how Tesla is creating a competitive advantage by bringing battery production in house.
2. How does Tesla’s decision to produce its own batteries impact management of the company’s value chain?
3. Do you think Musk’s recent decision to buy SolarCity will have an impact on Tesla Motors’business strategies? Explain your reasoning.
Discuss why it is important for human resource management systems to be in sync with an organization’s strategy and goals and with each other. [LO12-1]
Discuss why training and development are ongoing activities for all organizations. [LO12-3]
Describe the type of development activities you think middle managers are most in need of. [LO12-3]
Evaluate the pros and cons of 360-degree performance appraisals and feedback. Would you like your performance to be appraised in this manner?Why or why not? [LO12-4]
Discuss why two restaurants in the same community might have different pay levels. [LO12-5]
Explain why union membership is becoming more diverse. [LO12-6]
Interview a manager in a local organization to determine how that organization recruits and selects employees. [LO12-2]
How are people recruited and selected for this job?Are the recruitment and selection procedures the organization uses effective or ineffective? Why?
What levels of pay and benefits are provided on this job? Are these levels appropriate? Why or why not?
Either individually or in a group, think about the ethical implications of managers’ becoming friendly with their employees.
Do you think managers should feel free to socialize and become good friends with their employees outside the workplace if they so desire? Why or why not?
Describe the steps you will take to recruit and select(a) the engineers, (b) the administrative assistants, and(c) the MBAs.
Describe the training and development the engineers, the administrative assistants, and the MBAs will receive.
What conditions present challenges to Southwest Airlines as it tries to fill its need for people who give customers a happy flying experience? What conditions help Southwest meet the challenges?
Southwest used some of the settlement money from Boeing to increase employees’ profit sharing above the previous year’s amount, even though profits were down. Do you agree that this was a smart
Besides the examples described in the case, what other HR efforts could enable or encourage Southwest employees to live out the vision of making customers happy?
Describe the steps managers can take to increase their power and ability to be effective leaders. [LO14-1]
Think of specific situations in which it might be especially important for a manager to engage in consideration and in initiating structure. [LO14-2]
For your current job or for a future job you expect to hold, describe what your supervisor could do to strongly motivate you to be a top performer. [LO14-3]
Discuss why managers might want to change the behaviors they engage in, given their situation, their employees, and the nature of the work being done. Do you think managers can readily change their
Discuss why substitutes for leadership can contribute to organizational effectiveness. [LO14-3]
Describe what transformational leadership is, and explain how managers can engage in it. [LO14-4]
Discuss why some people still think men make better managers than women, even though research indicates that men and women are equally effective as managers and leaders. [LO14-5]
Imagine that you are working in an organization in an entry-level position after graduation and have come up with what you think is a great idea for improving a critical process in the organization
Interview a manager to find out how the three situational characteristics that Fiedler identified affect his or her ability to provide leadership. [LO14-3]
Find a company that has dramatically turned around its fortunes and improved its performance. Determine whether a transformational manager was behind the turnaround and, if one was, what this manager
Either alone or in a group, think about the ethical implications of the use of coercive power.
To what extent do managers and organizations have an ethical obligation to put limits on the amount of coercive power that is exercised?
Analyze the sources of power that Caruso has available to her to influence the designers. What advice can you give her to either increase her power base or use her existing power more effectively?
What steps would you advise Caruso to take to increase the designers’ motivation to deliver highquality customer service?
Would you advise Caruso to try to engage in transformational leadership in this situation? If not, why not? If so, what steps would you advise her to take?
What traits and behaviors do you think have helped Chip Bergh succeed as a leader at Levi Strauss?
When Bergh arrived at Levi Strauss, he identified a need for the organization to be transformed. Consider the kinds of changes transformational leadership brings about in a leader’s employees. What
If you had been coaching Bergh in how to be a transformational leader, what would you have suggested he do to bring about change in the organization’s people and culture?
Discuss why violations of the principles of distributive and procedural justice continue to occur in modern organizations. What can managers do to uphold these principles in their organizations?
Sometimes employees who test positive for HIV experience discrimination in the workplace. As a manager, what would you do to ensure such discrimination is eliminated? [LO5-1, 5-4]
Some workers might resent accommodations made for disabled employees. As a manager, what could you do to ensure all employees are treated fairly? [LO5-1, 5-4]
Discuss the ways in which schemas can be functional and dysfunctional. [LO5-4]
Discuss an occasion when you may have been treated unfairly because of stereotypical thinking. What stereotypes were applied to you? How did they result in your being treated unfairly? [LO5-4]
How does implicit bias influence your own behavior and decisions? [LO5-4]
Why is mentoring particularly important for minorities? [LO5-5]
Why is it important to consider the numbers of different groups of employees at various levels in an organization’s hierarchy? [LO5-5]
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]
Choose a Fortune 500 company not mentioned in the chapter. Conduct research to determine what steps this organization has taken to manage diversity effectively and eliminate sexual harassment.
Why do you think the decision maker acted unfairly in this situation?
If you had authority over the decision maker (that is, if you were his or her manager or supervisor), what steps would you take to ensure that the decision maker stops treating people unfairly?
Either individually or in a group, think about the ethical implications of requiring long hours and extensive amounts of travel for some jobs.
What obligations do you think managers and companies have to enable employees to have balanced lives and meet nonwork needs and demands?
Discuss whether your observation reflects an underlying problem. If so, why? If not, why not?
Discuss whether you should address this issue with your staff and in your restaurants. If so, how and why? If not, why not?
What managerial role(s) did the head of HR fill in managing diversity when he redesigned the hiring process for Goldman Sachs? What other roles would be important for ensuring this change succeeds in
Comparing the hiring processes used at Goldman Sachs before and after the changes implemented under Dane Holmes, which process better met the standards of distributive justice? Why?
Do you think Goldman’s policy requiring a “diverse” person on the board of a company preparing an IPO uses a broad enough view of diversity? Why or why not?
Describe the three steps of planning. Explain how they are related. [LO8-1]
How can scenario planning help managers predict the future? [LO8-2]
What is the relationship among corporate-, business-, and functional-level strategies, and how do they create value for an organization? [LO8-3, 8-4]
Pick an industry and identify four companies in the industry that pursue one of the four main businesslevel strategies (low-cost, focused low-cost, and so on). [LO8-2, 8-3]
What is the difference between vertical integration and related diversification? [LO8-4]
Ask a manager about the kinds of planning exercises he or she regularly uses. What are the purposes of these exercises, and what are their advantages or disadvantages? [LO8-1, 8-2]

Showing 400 - 500 of 1381