1. Introducing Management Flashcards
What sets great managers apart from mediocre or poor ones?
High performers achieve success because they are better than their competitors at getting extraordinary results from the people working for them.
What are the ultimate foundations of organizational performance?
People and their talents - what they know, what they learn, and what they do with it.
What is intellectual capital?
The collective brainpower or shared knowledge of a workforce that can be used to create value.
What is the (somewhat abstract) formula for intellectual capital
Intellectual capital = Competency X Commitment
What are today’s workplaces dominated by?
Knowledge workers
What are knowledge workers?
Someone whose mind, not just their physical capabilities, is a critical asset to employers.
What does workforce diversity describe?
Differences among workers in gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and able-bodiedness.
What sets the stage for diversity bias?
Prejudice
What is prejudice?
The display of negative, irrational attitudes toward members of diverse populations.
What does prejudice become?
Discrimination
What does discrimination resulting from prejudice do?
Discrimination actively denies minority members the full benefits of organizational membership.
What is the glass ceiling effect?
An invisible barrier limiting career advancement of women and minorities.
What is globalization?
The worldwide interdependence of resource flows, product markets, and business competition.
How is globalization described as?
A process in which improvements in technology combine with the deregulation of markets and open borders to bring about vastly expanded flows of people, money, goods, services, and information.
What is the main consequence of the unprecedented recent advances in technology in terms of globalization?
Physical distance hardly matters anymore.
What do ethics set?
Ethics set the moral standards of what is “good” and “right”, as opposed to “bad” and “wrong” in one’s behavior.
Which 3 things do ethical organizations show great respect for?
- Sustainable development and protection of the natural environment
- Protection of consumers through product safety and fair practices
- Protection of human rights in all aspects of society, including employment.
Describe how British scholar Charles Handy uses the analogy of the shamrock to discuss career patterns characteristic of the new economy.
Each of three leaves represents a type of worker in an organization. In one leaf are the core workers, in the second leaf are contract workers, in the third leaf are part-time workers.
Describe the core workers according to the Shamrock organization.
Core workers are full-time employees who pursue traditional career paths. With success and the maintenance of critical skills, they can advance within the organization and may remain employed for a long time.
Describe the contract workers according to the Shamrock organization.
Independent contractors perform specific tasks as needed by the organization and are compensated on a fee-for-services basis rather than by a continuing wage or salary. They sell a skill or service on contract with many different employers over time.
Describe the part-time workers according to the Shamrock organization.
Part-time temporaries are hired only as needed and for as long as needed. Employers expand and reduce their part-time staffs as business needs rise and fall.
How should you prepare to prosper in any of the shamrock’s three leaves?
By being a portfolio worker
What’s a portfolio worker?
Someone who has up-to-date skills that allow for job and career mobility.
How does being a portfolio worker help you prepare to prosper in any of the shamrock’s three leaves
It’s likely that you will be changing jobs and employers over time, so your skills must be portable and always of value.
What are the 6 early career survival skills?
- Mastery
- Networking
- Entrepreneurship
- Love of Technology
- Marketing
- Passion for Renewal
Describe how mastery is an early career survival skill.
You need to be good at something; you need to be able to contribute something of value to your employer.
Describe how networking is an early career survival skill.
You need to know people; links with peers and others within and outside the organization are essential to get things done.
Describe how entrepreneurship is an early career survival skill.
You must act as if you are running your own business, spotting ideas and opportunities and stepping out to embrace them.
Describe how a love for technology is an early career survival skill.
You have to embrace technology; you don’t have to be a technician, but you must be willing and able to fully utilize information technology.
Describe how marketing is an early career survival skill.
You need to be able to communicate your successes and progress, both yours personally and those of your work group.
Describe how a passion for renewal is an early career survival skill.
You need to be continuously learning and changing, always updating yourself to best meet future demands.
What is an organization?
A collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose
Why are organizations so important?
Because the organization is a unique social phenomenon that enables its members to perform tasks far beyond the reach of individual accomplishment.
Which broad purpose do all organizations share?
Providing goods and services of value to customers.
What is an important source of organizational strength and performance advantage?
A clear sense of purpose tied to “quality products and services” and “customer satisfaction”.
What kind of system are organizations?
Organizations are open systems that interact with their environments in the continual process of obtaining resource inputs and then transforming them into outputs in the form of finished goods and services for their customers.
How does feedback from the environment indicate how well an organization is doing?
The external environment is both the supplier of resources and the source of customers. When customers stop buying a firm’s products, it will be hard to stay in business for long unless something soon changes for the better.
What is productivity?
The quantity and quality of work performance, with resource utilization considered.
Which two common performance measures describe productivity?
Performance effectiveness
Performance efficiency
What is performance effectiveness?
An output measure of task or goal accomplishment.
What is performance efficiency?
An input measure of resource cost associated with goal accomplishment.
In the textbook, there is a figure describing productivity, describe it briefly.
Goal attainment on the y-axis (representing effectiveness) with a “high” and “low” quadrant.
Resource utilization on the x-axis (representing efficiency) with a “poor” and “good” quadrant.
Describe the first quadrant of the figure describing productivity.
Effective but not efficient.
- Goals achieved
- Resources wasted
Describe the second quadrant of the figure describing productivity.
Effective and efficient (High productivity)
- Goals achieved
- No wasted resources
Describe the third quadrant of the figure describing productivity.
Efficient but not effective
- No wasted resources
- Goals not achieved
Describe the fourth quadrant of the figure describing productivity.
Neither effective nor efficient
- Goals not achieved
- Resources wasted
Describe the list of 8 organizational trends and transitions relevant to your study of management.
- Priorities on sustainability
- Valuing human capital
- Demise of “command-and-control”
- Emphasis on teamwork
- Pre-eminence of technology
- Importance of networking
- New workforce expectations
- Focus on speed
Describe how Priorities on sustainability is important to your study of management.
Social values show more attention to the preservation of natural resources for future generations and understanding how work affects human well-being.
Describe how Valuing human capital is important to your study of management.
Demands of the new economy place premiums on high-involvement and participatory work settings that rally the knowledge, experience, and commitment of all members.
Describe how Demise of “command-and-control” is important to your study of management.
Traditional hierarchical structures with “do as I say” bosses are proving too slow, conservative, and costly to do well in today’s competitive environments.
Describe how Emphasis on teamwork is important to your study of management.
Today’s organizations are less vertical and more horizontal in focus; they’re increasingly driven by teamwork that pools talents for creative problem solving.
Describe how Pre-eminence of technology is important to your study of management.
New opportunities appear with each development in computer and information technology; they continually change the way organizations operate and how people work
Describe how Importance of networking is important to your study of management.
Organizations are networked for intense, real-time communication and coordination, internally among parts and externally with partners, contractors, suppliers, and customers.
Describe how New workforce expectations is important to your study of management.
A new generation of workers brings to the workplace less tolerance for hierarchy, more informality, and more attention to performance merit than to status and seniority and for work-life balance.
Describe how Focus on speed is important to your study of management.
Everything moves fast today; in business, those who get products to market first have an advantage, and in any organization, work is expected to be done well and in a timely manner.
What 5 environments are present in an organization’s general environment?
- Economic environment
- Legal-political environment
- Technological environment
- Socio-cultural environment
- Natural environment
Which economic conditions should managers be especially concerned with?
Those that influence consumer spending, resource supplies, and investment capital.
Why are things like the overall health of the economy in terms of financial markets, inflation, income levels, gross domestic product, unemployment, and job outlook are always important for managers to watch?
Because they affect the amount of wealth available to consumers, which in turn affects product markets and spending patterns?
Which legal-political conditions should managers be especially concerned with?
Existing and proposed laws and regulations, government policies, and the philosophy and objectives of political parties.
Why do corporate executives follow political debates and developments closely?
To monitor trends that can affect the regulation and oversight of their businesses.
What is an important legal-political development abroad which could be of particular interest to executives?
Internet censorship
What is internet censorship?
The deliberate blockage and denial of public access to information posted on the internet.
Why must managers stay abreast of the latest technologies?
For their work applications and their work implications.
The socio-cultural conditions of a society or region take meaning in the form of…
Norms, customs, and social values on such matters as ethics, human rights, gender roles, and lifestyles. They also include environmental trends in education and related social institutions, as well as demographic patterns.
Why do business executives go to great lengths to track demographic and social trends?
To anticipate shifting values that will affect customer tastes and preferences.
What does a sustainable business do?
Sustainable business both meets the needs of customers and protects the well-being of our natural environment.
What are the hallmarks of sustainable business practices?
Less waste, less toxic materials, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
Describe sustainable innovation.
Sustainable innovation creates new products and production methods that have reduced environmental impact.
In which areas are some sustainable innovations found?
Energy use, water use, packaging, waste management, and transportation practices, as well as in product development.
Describe the specific environment.
The specific environment, or task environment, includes the people and groups with whom an organization interacts.
What are stakeholders?
The people, groups, and institutions directly affected by an organization.
Describe stakeholder in another way.
Stakeholders are key constituencies that have a stake in the organization’s performance; they are influenced by how it operates and can influence it in return.
Who are the 6 important stakeholders for most organizations?
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Competitors
- Regulators/Labour unions
- Investors/Owners
- Employees
Top-level decisions are often made with the assistance of stakeholder analysis focusing on…
Value creation
What is value creation?
The creation of value for and satisfying needs of stakeholders.
Describe the term competitive advantage in a business context.
Something that an organization does extremely well, a core competency that clearly sets it apart from competitors and gives it an advantage over them in the marketplace.
What does a competitive advantage allow an organization to do?
To deal with market and environmental forces better than its competitors.
What are 4 ways in which competitive advantage can be achieved?
- Through costs
- Through quality
- Through delivery
- Through flexibility
How can competitive advantage be achieved through costs?
Finding ways to operate with lower costs than one’s competitors and thus earn profits with prices that competitors have difficulty matching.
How can competitive advantage be achieved through quality?
Finding ways to create products and services that are of demonstrably and consistently higher quality for consumers than what is offered by one’s competitors.
How can competitive advantage be achieved through delivery?
Finding ways to outperform competitors by delivering products and services to customers faster and consistently on time, and to continue to develop timely new products.
How can competitive advantage be achieved through flexibility?
Finding ways to adjust and tailor products and services to fit customer needs in ways that are difficult for one’s competitors to match
What is strategic positioning?
Strategic positioning occurs when an organization does different things or the same things in different ways from its major competitors.
What is environmental uncertainty?
A lack of complete information regarding what exists and what developments may occur.
What are the two dimensions of environmental uncertainty?
- The degree of complexity (simple or complex)
- The rate of change (stable or dynamic)
What do high-uncertainty environments require from executives?
Flexibility and adaptability in organizational designs and work practices. Organizations must be able to respond quickly as new circumstances arise and new information becomes available.
What is a basic indicator of management success in dealing with complex and changing environments?
Organizational effectiveness.
What is organizational effectiveness?
Sustainable high performance in using resources to accomplish a mission.
Theorists view and analyze organizational effectiveness from 4 different vantage points. What are they?
- The systems resource approach
- The internal process approach
- The goal approach
- The strategic constituencies approach
What does the systems resource approach to organizational effectiveness look at?
The systems approach looks at the input side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of success in acquiring needed resources from the organization’s environment.
What does the internal process approach to organizational effectiveness look at?
The internal process approach looks at the transformation process and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how efficiently resources are utilized to produce goods and services.
What does the goal approach to organizational effectiveness look at?
The goal approach looks at the output side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how to measure achievement of key operating objectives.
What does the strategic constituencies approach to organizational effectiveness look at?
The strategic constituencies approach looks at the external environment and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of the organization’s impact on key stakeholders and their interests.
Organizational effectiveness can also be evaluated on a time line. In the short run, what are the 3 criteria focus on?
Performance effectiveness in goal accomplishment
- Performance efficiency in resource utilization
- Stakeholder satisfaction
Organizational effectiveness can also be evaluated on a time line. In the medium term, what 2 other criteria become important?
- Adaptability in the face of changing environments
- Development of people and systems to meet new challenges
Organizational effectiveness can also be evaluated on a time line. What is the criteria in the long run?
-Prosperity under conditions of uncertainty.
What is a manager?
A person who supports, activates, and is responsible for the work of others.
What is a manager responsible for?
Not only for his own work, but also for the overall performance accomplishments of a team, work group, or even organization as a whole.
What do top managers do?
Guide the performance of the organization as a whole or of one of its major parts.
What are the 3 main roles of top managers?
- Paying attention to the external environment
- Being alert to potential long-run problems and opportunities
- Develop appropriate ways of dealing with them
What are the 3 secondary roles of top managers?
- Create long-term vision
- Communicate long-term vision
- Ensure that strategies and objectives are consistent with the organization’s purpose and mission
Which qualities are expected of top managers?
Top managers should be future-oriented, strategic thinkers capable of making decisions under competitive and uncertain conditions.
What do middle managers do?
They oversee the work of large departments or divisions.
Even though most people enter the workforce as technical specialists, what eventually happens to them?
Sooner or later they advance to positions of initial managerial responsibility.
What are team leaders and who do they report to?
Team leader report to middle managers and supervise non-managerial workers.
What are the 9 pieces of advice for front-line managers?
- Plan meetings and work schedules
- Clarify goals and tasks, and gather ideas for improvement
- Appraise performance and counsel team members
- Recommend pay increases and new assignments
- Recruit, train, and develop team members
- Encourage high performance and teamwork
- Inform team members about organizational goals
- Inform higher levels of team needs and accomplishments
- Coordinate activities with other teams
What do line managers do?
They directly contribute to producing the organization’s goods or services.
What do staff managers do?
They use special technical expertise to advise and support line workers.
What do functional managers do?
They are responsible for one area, such as finance, marketing, production, personnel, accounting, or sales.
What do general managers do?
They are responsible for complex, multifunctional units.
What is an administrator?
A manager in a public or non-profit organization.
What is accountability?
The requirement to show performance results to a supervisor.
What do effective managers excel at?
Helping others achieve high performance and satisfaction at work.
What is quality of work life?
The overall quality of human experiences int he workplace.
What 6 things do “high-QWL” workplaces offer?
- Fair pay
- Safe working conditions
- Opportunities to learn and use new skills
- Room to grow and progress in a career
- Protection of individual rights
- Pride in the work itself and in the organization
Describe the concept of the upside-down pyramid.
Top managers support team leaders and managers who support operating workers who serve customers and clients.
Describe how each of the managers in the upside-down pyramid fulfill their roles.
- Top managers keep the organization’s mission and strategies clear.
- Team leaders and managers help the operating workers do their jobs and solve problems.
- Operating workers do work directly affecting customer/client satisfaction.
- Customers or clients are the ultimate beneficiaries of the organization’s efforts.
What is management?
The process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the use of resources to accomplish performance goals.
What is planning?
The process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them.
What is organizing?
The process of assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating work activities.
What is leading?
The process of arousing enthusiasm and inspiring efforts to achieve goals.
What do managers do through planning?
Through planning, a manager identifies desired results and ways to achieve them.
What do managers do through organizing?
Through organizing, managers turn plans into actions by defining jobs, assigning personnel, and supporting them with technology and other resources.
What do managers do through leading?
Through leading, managers build commitments to a common vision, encourage activities that support goals, and influence others to do their best work on the organization’s behalf.
What is controlling?
The process of measuring performance and taking action to ensure desired results.
What are the 4 functions of management?
- Planning
- Organizing
- Leading
- Controlling
Mintzberg identified a set of 10 roles that managers fill. Name the 3 categories in which they fall?
- Informational roles
- Interpersonal roles
- Decisional roles
What do a manager’s informational roles involve? (3 roles)
- Monitor - scanning for information
- Disseminator - sharing information
- Spokesperson - acting as official communicator
What do a manager’s interpersonal roles involve? (3 roles)
- Figurehead - modelling and setting forth key principles and policies
- Leader - providing direction and instilling enthusiasm
- Liaison - coordinating with others
What do a manager’s decisional roles involve? (4 roles)
- Negotiator - making deals and forging agreements
- Disturbance handler - dealing with problems and conflicts
- Resource allocator - handling budgets and distributing resources
- Entrepreneur - developing new initiatives
What are the 2 activities John Kotter considers critical to a manager’s success?
- Agenda setting
- Networking
What does agenda setting do?
Agenda setting develops action priorities for accomplishing goals and plans.
What is something to note about how agendas work?
Agendas are usually incomplete and loosely connected in the beginning, but become more specific as the manager utilizes information continually gleaned from many different sources. The agendas are always kept in mind and are played out whenever an opportunity arises.
What is networking?
The process of creating positive relationships with people who can help advance agendas.
What is social capital?
A capacity to get things done with support and help of others
What does your success as a manager depend on?
A real commitment to learning.
What is learning?
A change in behavior resulting from experience.
In management, what is the learning focus on?
Developing skills and competencies to deal with the complexities of human behavior and problem-solving in organizations.
What is lifelong learning?
Continuous learning from daily experiences.
What is a skill?
The ability to translate knowledge into action that results in desired performance.
What are the 3 categories of essential, or baseline, skills of managers that Robert Katz has classified?
- Conceptual skills
- Human skills
- Technical skills
What is a technical skill?
The ability to use expertise to perform a task with proficiency.
What is a human skill?
The ability to work well in cooperation with other people.
What is a conceptual skill?
The ability to think analytically to diagnose and solve complex problems.
How are technical skills acquired and when are they most important?
Technical skills are initially acquired through formal education and are further developed by training and job experience, They are very important at career entry levels.
How are human skills acquired and when are they most important?
Human skills emerge in the workplace as the capacity to collaborate and network with others, to engage others with a spirit of trust, enthusiasm, and positive engagement. They are very important in all managerial levels.
What will a manager with good human skills have?
A high degree of self-awareness and a capacity to empathize with the feelings of others.
What is emotional intelligence?
The ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively, reflected in how well or poorly you recognize, understand, and manage feelings while interacting with others.
How are conceptual skills acquired and when are they most important?
As people assume ever greater responsibilities in organizations, they are called upon to deal with more ambiguous problems that have many complications and longer-term consequences. Gain importance for top level managers.
What the idea of high concept?
The ability to see the big picture, identify patterns, and combine ideas.
What is the concept of high touch?
The ability to empathize and enjoy others in the pursuit of a purpose.
What is a managerial competency?
A skill-based capability for high performance in a management job.
List the 6 high-concept and high-touch competencies.
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Self-management
- Leadership
- Critical thinking
- Professionalism
Describe communication in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to share ideas and findings clearly in written and oral expression.
Describe teamwork in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to work effectively as a team member and team leader.
Describe self-management in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to evaluate oneself, modify behavior, and meet performance obligations.
Describe leadership in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to influence and support others to perform complex and ambiguous tasks.
Describe critical thinking in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to gather and analyze information for creative problem-solving.
Describe professionalism in terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies.
The ability to sustain a positive impression, instill confidence, and maintain career advancement.
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of communication include? (4)
- Writing
- Oral presentation
- Giving/receiving feedback
- Technology utilization.
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of teamwork include? (5)
- Team contribution
- Team leadership
- Conflict management
- Negotiations
- Consensus building.
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of self-management include? (4)
- Ethical reasoning and behavior
- Personal flexibility
- Tolerance for ambiguity
- Performance responsibilities.
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of leadership include? (4)
- Diversity awareness
- Global understanding
- Project management
- Strategic action
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of critical thinking include? (4)
- Problem solving
- Judgement and decision-making
- Information gathering and interpretation
- Creativity/Innovation
In terms of high-concept and high-touch competencies, what does the concept of professionalism include? (3)
- Personal presence
- Personal initiative
- Career management
