3.2 - Managers, Leadership and Decision Making Flashcards
McGregor Theory X Managers
Believes:
- Average worker is lazy and dislikes work
- Workers need to be controlled and directed
What is forecasting?
- Process of predicting future events or trends
What is organising?
- Structuring resources to achieve objectives efficiently
What is commanding?
- Issuing orders and overseeing their execution
What is co-ordinating?
Harmonising activities and efforts towards a common goal
What is controlling?
- Monitoring performance and taking corrective action
McGregor Theory Y Managers
- Believe workers enjoy work and can take responsibility
What is an autocratic leadership style?
- Where the boss makes decisions without consulting subordinates
What is a democratic leadership style?
- Where the boss empowers subordinates through delegation and consultation
What is a paternalistic leadership style?
- Where the boss treats staff like their family, and cares for their needs
- Allows them to input ideas but just like parents, will have the final say
What is a Laissez-faire leadership style?
- Where their is freedom for workers with minimal input from the boss/leader
What are decision trees?
- Mathematical models aiding decision making with probabilities
What is probability?
- The likelihood of an event occurring, ranging from 0 to 1
What is the expected value?
- Financial value calculated by multiplying effect with probability
What is the net gain?
- The value obtained from a decision after consideration costs
What is scientific decision making?
- Data driven, time consuming, no guarantee of the right decision
What is a hunch?
- An intuition based decision making technique, quick but hard to justify for risky business decisions
Risk vs Uncertainty
- Risk can be estimated, uncertainty lacks information for probability assessment
What is opportunity cost?
- The value of the next best alternative forgone in decision making
What is inventory control?
- Automated stock ordering and tracking systems for managing inventory
What is market research?
- Utilises online and mobile customer surveys for gathering customer feedback
What are business objectives?
- Objectives which set the framework for decision-making processes based on goals and budgets
What is organisational structure?
- Defines decision-making authority and structure within a business
What is attitude to risk?
- Influences decision making culture by encouraging or discouraging risk-taking
What is availability of data?
- Crucial for supporting a scientific approach to decision making
What is the external environment?
- The external factors that affect business decisions
- e.g. competition, economy
What is a trade-off?
- A compromise where something is given up in exchange for something else
What is the difference between shareholders and stakeholders?
- Shareholders own shares in a company and earn dividends, stakeholders are anyone with an interest in the business
What are stakeholder objectives?
- The desires of different stakeholders like shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and the local community
What is stakeholder mapping?
- A matrix model by Professor Mendelow to manage and prioritise stakeholder needs
What is the stakeholder matrix?
- Balances stakeholder power against interest in the organisation
What is power in business?
- The ability to influence organisational strategy or project resources
What is interest?
- The level of concern a stakeholder has for the organisations or projects success
What is the ‘shareholders first view’?
- A historical focus on profit to satisfy business owners/shareholders
What is conflict between stakeholders?
- Profit focus for shareholders may hinder other stakeholders objectives
What is operations management?
- Management of processes and decisions in production and delivery
What is the transformation process?
- Describes internal business activities converting inputs into outputs
What are operational objectives?
- Specific goals related to production and delivery processes
What is cost and volume?
- Factors including unit cost, productivity, and scale of production
What is quality?
- Key challenge for businesses
- Includes reliability and customer loyalty
What is speed?
- The measure of how quickly good or services are produced
What is flexibility?
- The ability to adapt production to changes in demands or customer needs
What are environmental practices?
- The focus on sustainable practices and meeting environmental legislation
What is added value?
- Process of increasing worth by transforming materials into products
What is unit cost?
- Total costs divided by total units produced
What is productivity?
- A measure of units produced per time period or per employee
What is contribution per unit?
- Profit earned per item sold
What is reliability?
- Frequency of malfunctions or errors
What is customer loyalty?
- The percentage of repeat business from satisfied customers
What is labour productivity?
- Output per employee or production line
What is capacity utilisation?
- Proportion of potential output actually being achieved
What are order lead times?
- Time taken between receiving and processing an order
What is product innovation?
- Launching new or improved products into the market
What is process innovation?
- Finding more efficient ways producing existing products
