Questions and Answers of Essentials Contemporary Management

Is information technology helping managers be more efficient and effective? Explain your answer. LO2
How might a manager use the grapevine to their advantage? Support your response. LO2
Research the characteristics of a good communicator.Write up your findings in a bulleted list. Be sure to cite your sources. LO2
Communication technology makes it easier for organisations to share information, but it also creates security risks. Find an example online of an organisation that has been hacked. What information
Managers sometimes justify withholding information from employees by arguing that releasing it ‘would only distress people if they knew about it and isn’t something they can influence anyway’.
How does the Miya Patient Flow system leverage the advantages of written communication? LO2
Which communication barriers would the Miya Patient Flow system help to overcome, and how would it do that? LO2
How does the Miya Patient Flow system enhance knowledge management among care teams and within a hospital? LO2
How does the system enhance a hospital’s care and customer service for its patients? LO2
What barriers to effective communication are mentioned in this case? How were they undermining operations at Holiday Home Helpers? LO2
Using the communication process depicted in Figure 14.1 , explain how HHH employees use the online database system to communicate. LO2
How is technology enhancing communication at HHH? LO2
How is the new communication system affecting the company’s knowledge management, customer service and use of employee input? LO2
Explain the nature and importance of control. LO4
Describe the three steps in the control process. LO4
Discuss the types of controls organisations and managers use. LO4
Discuss contemporary issues in control. LO4
What is the role of control in management? LO4
Describe four methods managers can use to measure actual work performance. LO4
How are planning and control linked? Is the control function linked to the organising and leading functions of management? Explain. LO4
Contrast feedforward, concurrent and feedback controls. LO4
Identify some ways in which cultural differences affect how managers can exercise control. LO4
In the chapter on managing change and innovation, we discussed the ‘white-water rapids’ view of change. Do you think it’s possible to establish and maintain effective standards and controls in
Why is it that what is measured is more critical to the control process than how it is measured? LO4
Why is it important for employers to monitor employee use of workplace technology? What would you consider‘acceptable’ ways to do this? What would be ‘unacceptable’?Justify your answers. LO4
How can managers stimulate functional conflict in the workplace? LO4
Which forms of conflict should a manager try to control?Which forms should they ‘leave alone’? LO4
How has Kraft Heinz used the HGPS to execute the control process? LO4
How could the Brisbane factories use (a)feedforward controls, (b) concurrent controls, and (c)feedback controls to improve pineapple yields? LO4
How has Kraft Heinz developed a new controloriented culture focused on improving productivity? LO4
What goals, measures and standards could Kraft Heinz develop to enhance productivity? LO4
How did Nate link planning, control and empowerment of employees? LO4
How did Nate use management by walking around to develop and implement the new control system? LO4
What examples can you see in this case of feedforward control, concurrent control and feedback control? LO4
How did Nate use feedback to improve employee performance? What impact did this have on HHH? LO4
Explain how organisations can define their social responsibilities. LO3
Examine the arguments for and against social responsibility. LO3
Discuss the approaches that managers can use to define ethical courses of action. LO3
Discuss factors that influence ethical and unethical behaviour. LO3
Identify methods that managers can use to encourage ethical behaviour. LO3
How are social responsibility, social obligation and social responsiveness different? How are they similar? LO3
Should organisations be socially involved? Why or why not? LO3
Describe how a manager would approach an ethical decision using the utilitarian approach. LO3
‘Under the utilitarian approach, an action that society considers wrong can still be considered ethical.’ Discuss. LO3
How could using the rights view of ethics result in no action being taken? LO3
What four conditions need to be fulfilled for a course of action to provide procedural and distributive justice? LO3
How does a code of ethics help to encourage ethical behaviour by organisational members? Why might a code be ineffective at promoting ethical behaviour? LO3
Discuss specific ways that managers can encourage people to act ethically. LO3
How can organisational leaders be good role models of ethical behaviour? LO3
Review the strategies for making ethical choices listed in the final section of this chapter. Which ones (if any) would you use? LO3
What view of social responsibility is illustrated by the banks? LO3
Why should banks be socially responsible? What benefits have they cost themselves by acting as they have? LO3
Using the utilitarian, rights and justice views of ethics, determine whether it is unethical for banks to pay kickbacks to financial advisers and ‘introducers’. LO3
Which of the factors illustrated in Figure 4.2 do you think caused unethical behaviour by bank managers and employees? LO3
What methods can bank managers use to encourage more ethical behaviour in future? LO3
What stance do you think HHH takes about its social responsibilities: is it meeting its social obligations, being socially responsive, or being socially responsible? LO3
Why should HHH be socially responsible? What benefits do you think it would generate if it was? LO3
Using the utilitarian, rights and justice views of ethics, determine whether it would be ethical or unethical for HHH employees to discuss what they learn about guests with people outside the
Which of the factors illustrated in Figure 4.2 do you think would have the most influence over whether HHH employees gossiped about guests and property owners to people they weren’t supposed
What methods is Nate using to encourage ethical behaviour by his employees? LO3
Discuss the nature and purposes of planning. LO6
Explain what managers do in the strategic management process. LO6
Compare and contrast approaches to goal setting and planning. LO6
Discuss contemporary issues in planning. LO6
Contrast formal with informal planning. LO6
Discuss why planning is beneficial. LO6
Describe in detail the six-step strategic management process. LO6
What is a SWOT analysis, and why is it important to managers? LO6
Given how fast things can change in a crisis situation, is it a waste of time to develop plans in advance? Why or why not? LO6
Under what circumstances do you believe MBO would be most useful? Discuss. LO6
Describe how managers can plan in today’s dynamic environment. LO6
Write down a personal goal you want to achieve this year.Now review the characteristics of well-written goals detailed in this chapter and rewrite your goal statement so that it has all six
‘The concept of competitive advantage is as important for not-for-profit organisations as it is for for-profit organisations.’Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain, using examples
How does this case study illustrate strategic management? LO6
Which strategic options is Unilever pursuing? Do you think it is pursuing them successfully? LO6
What types of plans is Unilever using to deal with water scarcity? LO6
How might Unilever use benchmarking to evaluate its performance in achieving its goals? LO6
Why does HHH use formal planning? What advantages does this create for the company? LO6
What sort of corporate strategy is HHH pursuing?What sort of competitive strategy is it using? LO6
What types of plans are illustrated in the case study? LO6
How does HHH use environmental scanning and benchmarking? LO6
Define a group, and describe the stages of group development. LO6
Describe the main concepts of group behaviour. LO6
Discuss how groups are turned into effective teams. LO6
Discuss contemporary issues in managing teams. LO6
Think of a group to which you belong (or have belonged).Trace its development through the stages of group development as shown in Figure 8.1 . How closely did its development parallel the group
How could norms enhance a group’s performance? How could norms undermine a group’s performance? LO6
How could a manager address social loafing in a work group? LO6
Contrast (a) self-managed and cross-functional teams, and (b) virtual and face-to-face teams. LO6
How do you explain the popularity of work teams in countries such as Australia and the United States, whose national cultures place a high value on individualism? LO6
‘All work teams are work groups, but not all work groups are work teams.’ Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Discuss. LO6
Would you prefer to work alone or as part of a team?Why? LO6
‘To have a successful team, first find a great leader.’ What do you think of this statement? Do you agree? Why or why not? LO6
Contrast the pros and cons of diverse teams. LO6
What challenges do managers face in managing global teams? How should those challenges be handled? LO6
What challenges have Intel’s managers faced in connecting their geographically dispersed teams? How have they dealt with these challenges? LO6
Would a ‘confrontational’ atmosphere be appropriate in all team situations? Explain. LO6
Discuss how roles, norms, status, group size and cohesiveness might affect these geographically dispersed teams. LO6
Compare the team characteristics described here with the characteristics of effective teams as shown in Figure 8.5 . Which ones does the IDC team appear to have? LO6
Explain how the two-person cleaning teams work though the stages of group development set out in Figure 8.1 . LO6

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