Business Flashcards
What is a manager?
- Someone who sets goals and targets for a business. They use all resources available, particularly people to achieve the goals as efficiently as possible.
What are the four main elements that make up the responsibilities of a manager?
- Planning
- Reporting
- Organising
- Monitoring and evaluating
What is involved in the planning aspect of management?
- Looking ahead with strategic plans about how the business will achieve its goals.
What will department plans need to do?
- Fit with the strategic plan of the business and look at how the departments will work to achieve the overall goal of the business.
Give at least three examples of what planning duties might include.
At least three from:
- Setting goals, targets and objectives.
- Forecasting sales
- Creating future production plans
- Looking at future marketing actions and promotional campaigns.
- Planning physical resource requirements.
- Contingency planning.
- Workplace planning
- Financial planning
What is contingency planning?
- Planning that forecasts and prepares for potential crises or emergency.
What is the ‘organising’ element of management about?
- Bringing together a range of resources which ultimately allow the business to achieve its goals.
Give at least three examples of what resources the ‘organising’ element of management may bring together.
At least three from:
- Staffing
- Stock ordering
- Paying suppliers
- Day to day finance
- Record keeping
Why do businesses aim to use the smallest number of resources possible?
- To make the business as profitable and successful as possible.
What is the ‘monitoring and evaluating’ aspect of management about?
- Monitoring the effectiveness of the business and evaluating the impact of business decisions.
What does the ‘monitoring and evaluating’ aspect of management include?
- Reviewing performance e.g. staff absences, sales figures and spending.
- Avoiding repetition of mistakes.
What does the ‘reporting’ aspect of management do?
- Report about all aspects of the business.
What does the ‘reporting’ aspect of management involve?
Give at least two examples.
- Providing important information such as annual reports and accounts or looking at budgeting.
- Looking at market trends.
- Monitoring employee performance in areas such as productivity, absenteeism, wage cost, training costs and health and safety.
What are the four main skills that managers will need?
- Technical skills
- Communication skills
- Organisational skills
- Interpersonal skills
What technical skills will managers need?
- This is specific to the job role but all managers will need basic technical skills.
What technical skills will middle managers need?
Give at least one example.
At least one from:
- Analytical skills
- Problem solving skills
What technical skills will senior managers need?
- Conceptual and strategic skills
What communication skills will managers need with regards to talking?
- Articulate ideas
- Convey enthusiasm
- Being able to give their argument and be persuasive.
What are examples of communication skills that managers will need, additional to that of spoken skills?
Give at least two examples.
At least two examples from:
- Listening
- The ability to handle meetings - plan, attend (if needed), summarise and control time.
- A second language
- Reading skills
- Written skills
Give at least two examples of organisational skills that managers will need.
At least two from:
- Target setting - SMART and motivational
- Planning workload
- Time management
- Creating effective teams
What interpersonal skills will managers need?
Give at least two examples.
At least two from:
- Need to be able to work with people.
- Need to motivate employees
- Need to coordinate the work of employees
- Need to solve disputes and prevent conflicts.
Who do managers need to be able to communicate with?
Give at least two examples.
At least two from:
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Senior managers
- Unions
- The local community
- Government officials
What do leaders do?
- Help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction and build an inspiring vision.
What do transactional leaders focus on?
- Organisation, supervision and group performance.
What do transformational leaders focus on?
- Change within the organisation.
What is future disruptive change?
- Change that is expected and mainly concerned with how technological systems are going to be put in place to make people’s lives easier.
Additionally to technological systems, what is future disruptive change concerned with?
- Changes in legislation such as changes in minimum and living wages.
What is incremental change?
- Change which takes place step by step and over a long period of time.
What is step change?
- Change that takes place rapidly and is often as a result of a dramatic change in the external business environment.
Why should businesses have a structure?
- Because all businesses should organise what they do and having a structure makes it easier for them to do this.
- A clear structure makes it easier to see what each part of the business does.
What factors will the organisational structure of a business depend on?
Give at least two examples.
At least two from:
- The size of the business.
- The type of business.
- Management and leadership style.
- The competitive environment.
What structure will small businesses tend to take?
- Flat hierarchal structures
What structure will larger businesses tend to take?
- More layers of hierarchy with more departments and functions.
What happens to decision making in businesses with centralised structures?
- This is kept firmly at the top of the hierarchy among the most senior management.
What are the main advantages of centralised structures?
Give at least two examples.
At least two from:
- It is easier to implement common practices and policies for the business as a whole.
- It prevents other parts of the business from becoming too independent.
- It is easier to control from the centre e.g with budgets.
- Economies of scale and overhead savings are easier to achieve.
- Decision making is usually quicker.
What are the main disadvantages of centralised structures?
Give at least two examples.
At least two from:
- More bureaucratic - there are often extra layers in the hierarchy.
- Local or junior managers are likely to be much closer to customer needs.
- Lack of authority down the hierarchy may reduce manager motivation.
- Customer service does not benefit from flexibility and speed in local decision making.
What happens to decision-making in businesses with decentralised structures?
- Decision-making is spread out to include more junior managers in the hierarchy.
Give at least two advantages of a decentralised business structures.
At least two from:
- Decisions are made closer to the customer.
- Businesses are better able to respond to local circumstances.
- Improved level of customer service.
- Consistent with aiming for flatter hierarchy.
- This is a good way of training and developing junior management.
- This should improve staff motivation.
Give at least two disadvantages of decentralised business structures.
At least two from:
- Decision-making is not necessarily strategic.
- It is more difficult to ensure consistent practices and policies - customers might prefer consistency from location to location.
- It is harder to achieve financial control. There is a higher risk of cost overruns.
What does the matrix organisational structure do?
Combine traditional department seen in functional structures with project teams.
What happens in a matrix structure?
Individuals working across teams and projects as well as within their own department or function.
Give at least two advantages of a matrix business structure.
At least two from:
- It can help breakdown traditional department barriers and improve communication across the entire organisation.
- It can allow individuals to use particular skills within a variety of contexts.
- It avoids the need for several departments to meet regularly therefore reducing costs and improving coordination.
- It is likely to result in greater motivation amongst the team members.
- It encourages cross-fertilisation of ideas across departments e.g. helping to share good practice and ideas.
- It is a good way of sharing resources across departments which can make project more cost-
Give at least two disadvantages of matrix business structures.
At least two from:
- Members of the project teams that may have divided loyalties as they report to two line managers.
- There may not be a clear line of accountability f or project teams given the complex nature of matrix structures.
- They are difficult to coordinate.
- It takes time from matrix team members to get used to working in this kind of structure.
- Team members may neglect their functional responsibilities.
What does the levels of hierarchy refer to?
- The number of layers within an organisation.
Complete the sentence:
Tall structures have ——- levels of hierarchy
- Many
What does a flat structure have in terms of hierarchy?
- Few levels between staff and executives.
What is the delayering?
- A popular strategy used to remove one or more layers of hierarchy from organisational structure.
What does delayering involve?
- Increasingly average span of control of senior managers within the business.
Get at least two advantages of delayering in terms of business structure.
At least two from:
- It offers opportunities for better delegation, empowerment and motivation as the number of managers is reduced and more authority is passed down hierarchy.
- It can improve communication with in the business as messages have to pass through fewer levels of hierarchy.
- It can reduce departmental rivalry if department heads are removed and the workforce is organised more in teams.
- It can reduce costs as fewer expensive managers are required.
- It can encourage innovation.
Give at least two disadvantages of delayering for businesses.
At least two from:
- Not all organisations are suited to flatter organisational structures - mass production industries with low skilled employees may not adapt easily.
- Delayering can have an negative impact on motivation due to job losses, especially if itIs really just an excuse for redundancies.
- A period of disruption may occur as people take on new responsibilities and fulfil new roles.
What did HERZBERG’S theory of motivation to suggest?
- Workers are motivated to work harder by motivators such as more responsibility, more interesting work, more praise the good work.
- Workers can become demotivated is hygiene factors are not met e.g. pay, working conditions, relationships with colleagues.
What did VROOM’S theory of motivation suggest?
- An employees performance is based on individual factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities.
- Effort, performance and motivation are linked to a persons motivation.
What did LOCKE’s theory of motivation suggest?
- Goals need to be set in order to motivate rather than keeping outcomes general.
- Goals must be specific and clear
- An easy goal is demotivating but a good balance of challenge is good.
- Employees have to you understand and buy into the goal from the outset.
- Managers should provide regular feedback throughout the whole process and this will keep the goal on track.
- Realistic timescales should be considered.
What did MASLOW’S theory suggest?
- There are five levels in a hierarchy of human needs that employees need to have filled at work.
- Workers are motivated by having each level of the need met in order as they move up the hierarchy.
- The levels of needs are physical, security, social, self-esteem, self-fulfilment.
- Workers must have lower levels of needs met fully by a firm before being motivated by the next level.
What is the acrymn for change management?
ADKAR
Does the ADKAR acrynm ned to be used in order in order for change to take place?
Yes
What does the A in the ADKAR acrymn stand for?
Awareness of the need for change.
What does the D in the ADKAR acrymn stand for?
Desire to support and participate in the change.
What does the K in the ADKAR acrymn stand for?
Knowledge of how to change.
What does the A in the ADKAR acrymn stand for?
Ability to implement change.
What does the R in the ADKAR acrymn stand for?
Reinforcement to sustain change.
