Business management

Question 1

5 generic elements of planning?

Answer 1

• Gathering information on
  problems and opportunities.
• Setting goals.
• Specifying what must be
  done to achieve them.
• Implementing the plan.
• Monitoring progress.

Question 2

purpose of planning?

Answer 2

Clarify the direction of what to do
Motivate
Use resource effectively
Increase control

Question 3

what is a business plan?

Answer 3

Created by people who are starting a new business or expanding an existing one. It is a document that
outlines the markets, the company plans to serve

Question 4

What is a strategy plan?

Answer 4

The goal of strategy is to
determine, what business an organisation should be in, and how it will get there

Question 5

what is an operational plan?

Answer 5

what senior management expects from specific
departments or functions.

Question 6

what is a specific plan?

Answer 6

have clear, quantified objectives and leave no room for interpretation.

Question 7

What is a directional plan?

Answer 7

when there is uncertainty about what needs to be done. Managers may decide to set the
objectives and leave the staff to decide to how to get there.

Question 8

What is a decision?

Answer 8

Decisions are choices about how to act in relation to organisational inputs, outputs, and transformation processes.

Question 9

What is a strategic/operational decision?

Answer 9

Commit significant resources to develop a new line of
production
* How to allocate resources between departments, how
to manage them efficiently

Question 10

What is a commitment to action?

Answer 10

At all levels – the focus here is organisational

Question 11

what are Programmed decisions?

Answer 11

Repetitive, routine
* Deals with familiar, structured problems and information known
* Resolve by definite procedures, rules, policies, and quantitative analysis
* E.g., supermarket’s stock control system, which automatically orders new stock based on
point-of-sale information
* Appointing junior staff
* Made at lower-level management

Question 12

what are unprogrammed decisions?

Answer 12

Unfamiliar, unique problem, information unclear and open to interpretation
* Resolution depends on judgement, intuition, negotiation, creativity, insights into the problem definition.
* Made at Top level management
* E.g., Launch a new service or product

Question 13

What is the context behind decisions?

Answer 13

Certainty
* All information available
Risk
* Enough information to estimate
Most decisions are made under conditions of risk
Uncertainty
* Goals clear (People know what they wish to achieve)
* But lack information to decide on action
Ambiguity
* Goals AND how to reach them unclear

Question 14

What is the economic model?

Answer 14

Sometimes called the ‘economic model’
* Economists use this model to analyse pricing, investment or other
decisions in conditions, where the goal is clear, and there are
several ways to achieve it.

Question 15

What is the administrative model?

Answer 15

People process limited amount of information
* Problems are unstructured and NOT measurable
* Goals and routes to achieve them are unclear
* Aims to describe how managers actually make decisions in situations of uncertainty and ambiguity.
* Decisions under this model tend to be NON-programmed – intuitive, experience based, judgment
based, creative approaches

Question 16

Why study models?

Answer 16

Managers will act on their own mental model.
Different managers see the world differently and will devise unusual ways to approach problems.
Can benefit from a broader range of strategies.

Question 17

who invented the rational goal model?

Answer 17

Taylor f.w (1856-1915)

Question 18

What is the rational goal model principals?

Answer 18

1.Use scientific methods to find the one best way of doing a task
2. Assign the best (most skilled, most efficient) person to do that task
3. Train and allow employees to grow
4. Use financial incentives to ensure workers follow the correct method. “He believed
employees should be rewarded when productivity rose,
5. Transfer responsibility for planning and organising to manager, allowing the workers to get
on with their assigned tasks

Question 19

Who made the internal process model?

Answer 19

Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

Question 20

what are the rules of the internal process model?

Answer 20

Rules and regulations: to guide behaviour
* Impersonality: to protect against favouritism, E.g. Appraisal process based on assessment not personal preference
* Division of labour
* Hierarchy: reflecting power to make decisions
* Authority
* Rationality: managers should use the most efficient methods to achieve objectives, assess issues based on evidence
not personal preference

Question 21

internal process model 2.0 rules?

Answer 21

Division of work
* Unity of command and direction: “An employee should receive orders from one supervisor only.
* Find the right degree of centralization: Balancing centralized decision-making (from the top) with letting
employees make decisions.
* Stability of tenure: minimize staff turnover
* Encourage initiative

Question 22

Human relation models rules?

Answer 22

People are motivated by social needs, and recognizing these will secure
commitment
* Advocated replacing bureaucracy with group networks in which people solve
problems
* Solving problems created unity amongst groups

Question 23

What is communication?

Answer 23

Is the exchange of information through written or spoken words to reach a mutual understanding.

Question 24

what is a sender?

Answer 24

the person who initiates a conversation.

Question 25

what is encoding?

Answer 25

Process of selecting certain words or non-verbal methods (symbols,
signs, body gestures) to translate the information so it can be communicated

Question 26

what is a communication channel?

Answer 26

How the message will be delivered. You should find the
most suitable to make the message effective and avoid it being misinterpreted.

Question 27

what is a receiver?

Answer 27

The receiver is the person the message is for.

Question 28

what is decoding?

Answer 28

The receiver interprets the message to try and understand it.

Question 29

what is feedback?

Answer 29

How the receiver makes sure they have interpreted the message
correctly as the sender intended it

Question 30

what is noise?

Answer 30

The communication barrier or barriers that prevent effectively
communication