Questions and Answers of Leading and Collaborating

1. Describe the group’s behavior. What did each member say? Do?
5. Did people say things to one another during the bidding to influence their actions? What was said, and how was it influential?
4. Did you become involved in the bidding? Why?a. If you became involved, what were your motivations?Did you accomplish your objectives?b. If not, why didn’t you become involved? What did you think
3. Did two bidders ever pay more for the money being auctioned than the value of the money itself? Explain how and why this happened.
2. As the auction proceeded, did bidders become more competitive or more cooperative? Why?
1. Who made the most money in this exercise—one of the bidders or the auctioneer? Why?
10. Identify some problems you want to solve. Brainstorm with others a variety of creative solutions.
9. Suppose you are the CEO of a major corporation and one of your company’s oil tanks has ruptured, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into a river that empties into the ocean.What do you need to
8. Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of using a group to make decisions. Give examples from your experience.
7. Do you think that when managers make decisions they follow the decision-making steps as presented in this chapter? Which steps are apt to be overlooked or given inadequate attention? What can
6. What do you think are some advantages and disadvantages to using computer technology in decision making?
5. Recall a recent decision that you had difficulty making.Describe it in terms of the characteristics of managerial decisions.
4. What effects does time pressure have on your decision making? In what ways do you handle it well and not so well?
3. Identify a decision you made that had important unexpected consequences. Were the consequences good, bad, or both?Should you, and could you, have done anything differently in making the decision?
2. Identify some risky decisions you have made. Why did you take the risks? How did they work out? Looking back, what did you learn?
1. Discuss Boeing’s Dreamliner in terms of risk, uncertainty, and how its managers handled the company’s challenges.What is the current news on this company?
3. Now create a plan for Wild Water. In your plan, describe what changes the organization needs to make in its culture to meet upcoming challenges in the external environment.Then describe steps that
2. Next, describe the organization’s culture. Discuss how the current culture affects the way it responds to the organization’s external environment.Jason and Marie Salerno, brother and sister,
1. Imagine that you are a management consultant hired by the Salernos to help them navigate the choppy waters ahead.First, describe the elements of the macroenvironment and competitive environment
2. How does the company attempt to influence its environment?
1. What has the company done to adapt to its environment?
1. What characteristics of the company’s customer base influence the company’s competitiveness?
1. Is there a threat of substitutes for the industry’s existing products? Are there complementary products that suggest an opportunity for collaboration?
1. Are new competitors to the company likely? Possible?
1. What companies compete with the firm you have selected? Do they compete on price, on quality, or on other factors?
How does your company’s relationship with suppliers affect its profitability?
1. What changes in society affect the market for your company’s products?
1. What changes in the population might affect the company’s customer base?
1. What new technologies strongly affect the company you have selected?
1. How does the state of the economy influence the sales of this company’s products?
1. What are some key laws and regulations under which this company and industry must operate?
7. When you visited colleges to select one to attend, were there cultural differences in the campuses that made a difference in your choice? Did these differences help you decide which college to
6. Select two organizations that you are interested in. Research information about the firms or talk with an employee, if possible. What types of cultures do they have? Write a paragraph that
5. We outlined several proactive responses that organizations can make to the environment. What examples have you seen recently of an organization’s responding effectively to its environment? Did
4. What kinds of changes do companies make in response to environmental uncertainty?
3. What are the main differences between the macroenvironment and the competitive environment?
2. What are the most important forces in the macroenvironment facing companies today?
1. This chapter’s opening quote by Peter Drucker said, “The essence of a business is outside itself.” What do you think this means? Do you agree?
2. Answer the questions on the Grading System Analysis Worksheet individually, or in small groups, as directed by your instructor.
1. Assume that your university has decided to institute a pass–fail system of grading instead of the letter-grade system it presently has. Apply the systems perspective learned from this chapter to
3. Which of the subsystems will be affected by the change; that is, what changes are likely to occur throughout the system as a result of the policy change?
2. Identify the following in this system: inputs, outputs, transformations.
1. What subsystems compose the system (the university)? Diagram the system.
8. For each of the management approaches discussed in the appendix, give examples you have seen. How effective or ineffective were they?
7. Why did the contingency perspective become such an important approach to management? Generate a list of contingencies that might affect the decisions you make in your life or as a manager.
6. Choose any organization and describe its system of inputs and outputs.
5. In what situations are quantitative management concepts and tools applicable?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a bureaucratic organization?
3. Table A.1 lists Fayol’s 14 principles of management, first published in 1916. Are they as useful today as they were then?Why or why not? When are they most, and least, useful?
2. What is scientific management? How might today’s organizations use it?
1. How does today’s business world compare with the one of 40 years ago? What is different about today, and what is not so different?
3. Which management skills does Charlie have? In what areas do you think he has the greatest need to develop skills?How can he actively manage his development as a manager?As Charlie Greer drove to
2. Which of the basic functions of management has Charlie considered? How well is he preparing to carry out these functions?As Charlie Greer drove to work, he smiled, recalling the meeting at the end
1. How will Charlie’s approach to quality and service affect his company’s performance?As Charlie Greer drove to work, he smiled, recalling the meeting at the end of the previous day. Inez
2. Identify 10 statements you can make today about your current career planning. Identify 10 questions you need answered for career planning. 1.. 2. 3. 10 statements 1. 2. 4. 4. 5.. 5. 6. 6. 10
1. Describe your ideal occupation in terms of responsibilities, skills, and how you would know whether you were successful.
2. Bring your rankings to class. Be prepared to justify your results and rationale. If you can add any behaviors to this list that might lead to success or greater management effectiveness, write
1. Following is a partial list of behaviors in which managers may engage. Rank these items in terms of their importance for effective performance as a manager. Put a 1 next to the item that you think
5. What did you learn about yourself and others from this exercise?
4. What are some suggestions for approaching secondary contacts, and how is contacting secondary sources different from contacting primary contacts?
3. What are some suggestions for approaching primary contacts?
2. What were some of the best sources for secondary contacts identified by your group?
1. What were some of the best primary sources identified by your group?
13. Who are Bloomberg Businessweek ’s most recent “best and worst managers,” and why were they selected?
12. Consider the managers and companies discussed in the chapter. Have they been in the news lately, and what is the latest? If their image, performance, or fortunes have gone up or down, what has
11. Devise a plan for developing yourself and making yourself attractive to potential employers. How would you go about improving your managerial skills?
10. What are your strengths and weaknesses as you contemplate your career? How do they correlate with the skills and behaviors identified in the chapter?
9. Discuss the importance of technical, conceptual, and interpersonal skills at school and in jobs you have held.
8. Describe your use of the four management functions in the management of your daily life.
7. Give examples you have seen of firms that are outstanding and weak on each of the six pillars of competitive advantage.Why do you choose the firms you do?
6. Name an ineffective organization. What can management do to improve it?
5. Name a great organization. How do you think management contributes to making it great?
4. Identify some examples of how different organizations collaborate across boundaries.
3. Describe in as much detail as possible how the Internet and globalization affect your daily life.
2. Have you ever seen or worked for an ineffective manager?Describe the causes and the consequences of the ineffectiveness.
1. Identify and describe a great manager. What makes him or her stand out from the crowd?
Describe strategies for creating a successful future. p. 617
Describe how to manage and lead change effectively. p. 606
Discuss what it takes to be world class. p. 602
List characteristics of successful development projects. p. 585
Describe the elements of an innovative organization. p. 582
Define key roles in managing technology. p. 580
Identify alternative methods of pursuing technological innovation. p. 572
Summarize how to assess technology needs. p. 570
Discuss ways to manage technology for competitive advantage. p. 566
Describe how technologies proceed through a life cycle. p. 564
List the types of processes that spur development of new technologies. p. 562
Describe the boundaryless organization and its advantages. p. 517
Summarize how to work with the company grapevine. p. 516
Explain how to improve downward, upward, and horizontal communication. p. 512
Summarize ways to become a better sender and receiver of information. p. 506
Describe when and how to use the various communication channels. p. 501
Identify communication problems to avoid. p. 499
Discuss important advantages of two-way communication. p. 498
Discuss the use of clan control in an empowered organization. p. 553
Identify ways in which organizations use market control mechanisms. p. 551
List procedures for implementing effective control systems. p. 546
Define basic types of financial statements and financial ratios used as controls. p. 541
Describe the purposes for using budgets as a control device. p. 538
Summarize how to design a basic bureaucratic control system. p. 529

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