B1 Flashcards
What is management?
Management is the process of accomplishing organizational goals through planning, organizing, leading and controlling
What is planning?
Planning is the process of establishing goals and objectives for an organization and determination the best ways to achieve them.
Importance of planning? (Hint: 3 points)
- Help managers seek opportunities and deal with challenges
- Provide direction to employees
- Provide standards for monitoring work progress
What are the 5 steps of the planning process?
Step 1: Establish objectives and goals
-Deciding what the firm wants to achieve. E.g: boost sales by 20%
Step 2: Gather useful and relevant information
-Analyze the firm’s resources and search info that’s vital for achieving objectives & goals. E.g: trends
Step 3: Evaluate alternative plans and choose the best option
-evaluating possible plans and choose the one that can achieve goals & objectives effectively. E.g: most cost-effective option
Step 4: formulate the plan
Step 5: Implement the plan
What does S stand for in SMART? What does it mean?
-Specific.
-Goals should be clear and explicit regarding what is to be achieved. Using general terms can cause misunderstandings
What does M stand for in SMART? What does it mean?
-measurable
-Goals should be quantifiable and expressed in numbers so that the actual performance can be measured
What does A stand for in SMART? What does it mean?
-Attainable
-Goals should be challenging and attainable with extra effort. Employees will not be motivated if the goal is too easy or impossible to achieve
What does R stand for in SMART? What does it mean?
-relevant
-goals should focus on key results which can affect company performance such as quality of goods and services provided, market shares, sales revenues, costs and profitability
What does T stand for in SMART? What does it mean?
-time-based/time-bound
-There should be a time frame for achieving the goals. The period given should be reasonable and employees should have enough time to achieve the goals
What is organizing?
Organizing refers to the process of determining what tasks are to be done and how the tasks are to be grouped
What’s the top management’s role? Name 2 tasks performed.
-Determining the company’s overall goals and direction
-Decide the company’s vision and mission
-Formulate company policies and regulations
-Make company-wide decisions
What’s the middle management’s role? Name 2 tasks performed.
-act as a bridge between top management and front-line management
-Carry out plans and decisions made by the top management
-Resolve operational problems to improve company’s performance
What’s the front-line management’s role? Name 2 tasks performed.
-Responsible for the daily operations of the business/company
-Deal with customer complaints
-Supervise workers and handle conflicts in the workplace
-Handle problems in daily operations (problems with production lines)
What is line authority?
Line authority refers to the authority given to a job position at a higher level (superior) for giving instructions to those directly below him (subordinates)
(note): this creates a superior-subordinate relationship
What is staff authority?
Staff authority is the authority given to a job position that is created to support, assist and give advice to other departments
(note): this creates an advisory relationship
What is By function/ functional departmentalization’s definition?
Departmentalization by function refers to forming departments by grouping jobs that perform similar functions
(Commonly used by small companies with few products)
What is By product/ product departmentalization’s definition?
Departmentalization by product refers to forming departments by grouping jobs according to the types of products produced or sold
(Often used by companies that produce or dell many types of products)
What is By location/ geographical departmentalization’s definition?
Departmentalization by location means forming departments by grouping jobs according to the geographical location
(commonly used by multinational corporations which produce and/or sell goods around the world)
What are the 4 risk management strategies?
-risk avoidance
-risk assumption
-risk reduction
-risk transfer
How can Human Resources Management (HRM) support other business functions?
By recruiting employees for other departments according to the requirements of the departments
How can Financial management support other business functions?
-by preparing financial budgets for other departments
-obtain and funds for other departments’ operations
How can Operations management support other business functions?
Ensure that the company’s products and production process meet the requirements of other departments
How can Marketing management support other business functions?
-by conducting marketing research to obtain useful market information for other departments
How can Risk management support other business functions?
-By buying insurance for other departments to obtain health protection against risks
-Identify and assess risks involved in other departments’ operations and suggest suitable measures to deal with the risks
What is leading?
Leading is the process of guiding, directing and motivating people to work towards achieving organizational goals
What are all the types of leadership?
-autocratic
-democratic
-laissez-faire
What is autocratic leadership?
managers do not involve subordinates in decision-making. They keep all the power to themselves and make all the decisions
What is democratic leadership?
Managers share their power with their subordinates and involve them in decision-making. They are willing to accept ideas and suggestions from others.
What is Laissez-faire leadership?
managers delegate their authority to their subordinates and allow them to make their own decisions
Give 2 advantages of using autocratic leadership (point form/ point form w explanation)
1.) Quick decisions:
Reasons:
- the manager is solely responsible for making decisions
- no other people are involved, thus quick decisions can be made
2.) More efficient operation:
-Reasons:
-Autocratic leaders practice strict control over their subordinates,
-this reduces delays and enhance the company’s operational efficiency
Give 2 disadvantages of using autocratic leadership
-Lower employee motivation
-Heavy reliance on manager (make all decisions > heavy workload > may become busy > affect company operations)
-Narrow scope of view (make all decisions alone < narrow scope of view > decisions may be subject to bias > may result in poor decisions
Give 2 advantages of using participative leadership
-Widen the manager’s exposure ( manager cannot gain access to all information alone > get ideas and suggestions from employees > widen the scope of the managers view > result in better decisions) opposite of autocratic disadvantage
-Strengthen employees’ support for business decisions:
(employees are involved in decision-making > more willing to carry out decisions made > result in mutual understanding between management and employees)
-Enhance employees’ commitment and motivation:
(Involving employees in decision-making > make them feel that management values their opinions > become more committed and motivated to work for company)
Give 2 disadvantages of using participative/democratic leadership
-lower operational efficiency
(Involvement of more people i.e employees may slow down decision-making process > adversely affect company’s operational efficiency)
-Increase risk of information leaks:
(When making decisions with employees > sensitive information may need to be shared > increases risk of sensitive information being leaked to outsiders > harms the company)
Give 2 advantages of using laissez-faire leadership
-Greater employee motivation:
(Employees enjoy autonomy at work > gain greater sense of challenge, commitment and satisfaction of their job)
-Encourage innovation:
(Employees allowed to decide what they want to do and how to complete their tasks > encourages creativity and innovation)
Give 2 disadvantages of using laissez-faire leadership
-Chaos in the workplace:
(Manager does not coordinate employees’ work or specify what employees should do > employees may just focus on their own tasks and fail to cooperate with others > may act in their own self-interest and fight over resources > resulting in chaos in the workplace)
-Lack of directions for passive and inexperienced employees:
(These employees may feel frustrated and helpless as they do not receive any instructions or guidance from the manager > lowers job satisfaction and work efficiency)
What is controlling?
Controlling is the process of monitoring activities to ensure that they are being done as planned
What are the steps of the control process?
Step 1: set performance standards
Step 2: measure actual performance
Step 3: compare actual performance with the performance standards
Step 4: analyze deviations and take corrective actions
What are the importance of management? (Rarely asked, just have basic understanding ig 😭)
-help achieve organizational goals effectively
-ensure efficient use of resources
What are the 5 principles of effective management?
-Division of work
-Unity of command
-Unity of direction
-Balancing authority and responsibility
-Management by objectives
What is division of work?
The production process is broken down into many different tasks with each worker concentrating on one or a few tasks
Give 3 advantages of division of work (point form/ point form w explanation)
1.) Increase efficiency:
(practice makes perfect > by specializing in certain tasks and repeating a task many times > workers can learn faster and improve their skills)
2.) Save time:
(Time is saved since workers do not need to switch from one position to another > can also save on training time as each worker only needs to learn one or a few tasks)
3.) Facilitate automation:
(As production process is divided into small tasks > easier for managers make use of specialized machines or equipment to replace labour > increase productivity and save on labour costs)
Give 2 disadvantages of division of work
1.) poor job satisfaction:
(Workers repeat the same task over and over again > find the work boring > poor job satisfaction)
2.) High cost of mistakes:
(As production process is broken down into different tasks which are dependent on each other > a mistake made in any task will greatly affect the entire production process > production may come to a halt in worst cases)
What is unity of command?
It means that each employee takes orders from and reports to only one superior. In other words, each subordinate has only one direct superior
Give 2 problems for violating unity of command
1.) Confusion to subordinates:
(Subordinates may get confused when receiving conflicting instructions from two or more managers > result in difficulty of carrying out their jobs)
2.) Conflicts among managers:
(As the chain of command or line of authority isn’t clearly defined, two or more managers are allowed to give instructions > managers may come into conflicts easily > adversely affecting company’s operations
What us unity of direction?
Unity of direction means that each plan is led by only one manager and that there should be only one plan for a group of activities with the same objective(s). Ensuring that employees working on the same plan have the same goal(s)
What are the advantages of applying unity of direction?
1.) Achieve organizational goals effectively
(as the efforts of all employees are directed and achieving the same goals)
2.) Avoid conflicts among departments:
(Applying unity of directions ensures the company has no conflicting goals that may act against each other > facilitates management and avoid conflicts from different departments)
3.) Enhance team spirit:
(All employees are working towards the same goals > have better team spirit > morale may be enhanced)
What is Authority and Responsibility respectively?
-Authority id the formal and legitimate power given by an organization to a person in a certain position to complete his assigned tasks
-Responsibility is the obligation of a person to perform his assigned tasks
What is the parity of authority and responsibility / what is the relationship between authority and responsibility
According to the parity of authority and responsibility, authority and responsibility go hand-in-hand and should be in balance
What is delegation?
Delegation is the assignment of work and the transfer of formal authority and responsibility to complete that work from a superior to a subordinate
(note): altho managers can delegate tasks to their subordinates, they are still accountable for the final results!
What is Management by objectives (MBO)?
Management by objectives (MBO) means that the overall objectives of an organization are translated into objectives for each succeeding level, such as divisions, departments and individual employees
