Questions and Answers of Measurement Theory In Action

3. Describe the organizing function, and differentiate among top, middle, and first-line management .
7. Discuss the potential of cognitive automation in management decision-making .
7-1. Why might managers and executives fail to react more quickly when their companies begin to stumble?
7-2. What does a new CEO like Su have at stake when launching an ambitious turnaround?
7-3. What sort of internal resistance might Su have encountered when she proposed her turnaround plan?
7-4. What is management? Why is it so important?
7-5. What are the four elements of SWOT analysis?
7-6. What is forecasting, and how is it related to the planning function?
7-7. What is the goal of crisis management?
7-8. How does leadership differ from management?
7-9. How do autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership styles differ?
7-10. Why are interpersonal skills important to managers at all levels?
7-11. What is cognitive automation?
7-12. Why is cognitive intelligence alone insufficient for effective leadership?
7-13. Is it safe for managers to proceed with strategic planning if they haven’t done a thorough SWOT analysis or similar assessment? Why or why not?
7-14. Who provides the leadership in a self-managed team or other organizational unit without an appointed manager?Explain your answer.
7-15. If leaders can’t identify all the crises that a company might encounter, does it make sense to engage in crisis planning? Why or why not?
7-16. Is laissez-faire leadership equivalent to essentially no leadership at all? Why or why not?
7-17. What might managers need to “unlearn” as they move up the corporate hierarchy?
7-18. Why are coaching and mentoring effective leadership techniques?
7-20. Which would be more difficult to forecast 10 years from now: the number of 60-year-olds or their average disposable income? Why?
7-22. Concept Integration. How do mission, vision, and values relate to the notion of a purpose-driven business discussed in Chapter 4 ?
7-23. Concept Integration. What is the principal difference between a business plan (as discussed in Chapter 6 ) and a strategic plan?
7-24. How much of the manager’s time is spent on each of the four management functions? Is this the allocation you expected?
7-25. Ask whether this is a typical workday for this manager.If it isn’t, what does the manager usually do differently?During a typical day, does this manager tend to spend most of his or her time
7-26. Of the four management functions, which does the manager believe is most important for good organizational performance? Do you agree?
7-27. What experience, skills, and business background do the two leaders have? Do you see any striking similarities or differences in their backgrounds?
7-29. Describe the leadership strengths of these two people as they are presented in the articles you selected. Is either leader known as a team builder? A long-term strategist? A shrewd negotiator?
2. Define four major types of organization structure .
5. Review the five stages of team development, and explain why conflict can arise in team settings .
7. Describe the use of taskbots and robotic procession automation in contemporary business .
8-1. A wealthy individual such as Hsieh and a Zappos employee just getting by on his or her hourly wage are likely to have profoundly different views about work and the meaning of a job. Does someone
8-2. What effect would a culture of self-management be likely to have on any company’s recruiting efforts? How would it influence the type and quality of candidates who apply?
8-3. How important is a public ranking such as Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For? Explain your answer.
8-4. What is a core competency?
8-5. What is an agile organization?
8-6. What are the characteristics of tall organizations and flat organizations?
8-7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of work specialization?
8-8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of functional departmentalization?
8-9. What are the three categories of conflict in team and workplace settings?
8-10. What are the potential benefits and potential disadvantages of the unstructured organization model?
8-11. What is robotic process automation?
8-12. Why is it important for companies to decide on their core competencies before choosing an organization structure?
8-13. How can a virtual organization reduce costs?
8-14. What can managers do to help teams work more effectively?
8-15. How can companies benefit from using virtual teams?
8-16. How might a team leader use conflict in a positive way?
8-17. Why are self-managed teams becoming more popular in business?
8-18. Why are many companies now rethinking or abandoning classical concepts of organization structure?
8-19. Ethical Considerations. A company executive accidentally emailed you a confidential spreadsheet with the salaries of all employees in the company. You took only a quick peek before deleting it,
8-20. You are the leader of a cross-functional work team whose goal is to find ways to lower production costs.Your team of eight employees has become mired in the storming stage. The team members
8-22. Concept Integration. One of your competitors has approached you with a merger proposal. The economies of scale would be terrific. So are the growth possibilities.There’s just one issue to be
8-23. Concept Integration. Chapter 7 discussed several styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. Using your knowledge of the differences in these leadership styles, which style
8-24. Why did the organization originally introduce teams?What types of teams are being used?
8-25. What problems did each organization encounter in trying to implement teams? How did the organization deal with these problems?
8-26. Have the teams been successful from management’s perspective? From the employees’ perspective? What effect has teamwork had on the company, its customers, and its products?
8-27. What are some possible benefits and risks of having teams compete against each other, such as having the sales teams from various regions compete to add the most new customers?
2. Describe the value chain and value web concepts, and discuss the controversy over offshoring .
5. Explain the unique challenges of service delivery .
7. Explain the concept of Industry 4.0 and the smart factory .
9-1. How does a service such as Voodoo support the concepts of virtual and unstructured organizations discussed in Chapter 8 ?
9-2. What advantages does iterative prototyping offer companies that are introducing new types of products to the market?
9-3. How does Voodoo represent the concepts of cyberphysical systems and the smart factory?
9-4. What role does feedback play in a system?
9-5. How does a value web differ from a value chain?
9-6. Why is offshoring controversial?
9-7. Why is supply chain management considered a strategic business function?
9-8. What is a lean system?
9-9. What is mass customization?
9-10. What is scalability, in the context of managing a service business?
9-11. What is Industry 4.0?
9-12. What is a cyber-physical system?
9-13. Why is it important to monitor performance variables that are the most meaningful, not those that are the most easily measurable?
9-14. Why do some firms now think in terms of value webs instead of value chains?
9-15. How can supply chain management (SCM) help a company establish a competitive advantage?
9-16. How does the lean approach to manufacturing put more responsibility in the hands of front-line workers?
9-17. How does perishability affect the delivery of services?
9-18. How does complexity affect product quality?
9-19. Ethical Considerations. How does society’s concern for the environment affect a company’s decisions about facility location and layout?
9-23. Concept Integration. How might supply chain management issues influence your decision on how to expand your vitamin and nutritional supplements company internationally?
9-24. What is the nature of the work of industrial production managers? Does the combination of people management and technical problem solving appeal to you?
9-25. What is the outlook for careers in this profession? If you were interested in this field, would you consider it, given the job outlook?
9-26. If you decide you want to work in a production-related job, what additional classes should you consider taking before you graduate?
9-27. What problems or opportunities led the company to rethink its operations? What kind of technology did it choose to address these problems or opportunities? What goals did the company set for
9-28. Before adding the new technology, what did the company do to analyze its existing operations? What changes, if any, were made as a result of this analysis?
9-29. How did technology-enhanced operations help the company achieve its goals for financial performance? For customer service? For growth or expansion?
5. Define reinforcement theory, and differentiate between positive and negative reinforcement .
7. Discuss the potential strengths and weaknesses of performance management systems .
10-1. Would someone who isn’t interested in video games find it motivating to work at Blizzard? Why or why not?
10-2. Would Blizzard need to use different motivational strategies for people who work on the creative side and the business side of the company? Why or why not?
10-3. How might a company that isn’t in a “fun” industry use the motivational techniques that Blizzard uses?
10-4. What is motivation?
10-5. What is expectancy theory?
10-6. What is management by objectives?
10-7. What are the core job dimensions in the job characteristics model?
10-8. What are the risks of goal-setting theory?
10-9. What is negative reinforcement?
10-10. Should managers apply theories of motivation that lack strong empirical proof? Why or why not?
10-11. How does expectancy theory explain the effect of selfdoubt on employee motivation?
10-12. How might a deadline that is too easy to meet cause someone to work more slowly than he or she might otherwise?

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