C2 Ch.1 Management Functions

Question 1

What is management?

Answer 1

Management is the process of accomplishing organisational goals through planning, organising, leading and controlling.

Question 2

What are the four management functions?

Answer 2

Planning, Organising, Leading, Controlling.

Question 3

What is planning?

Answer 3

Planning is the process of establishing goals and objectives for an organisation and determining the best ways to achieve them.

Question 4

What is the importance of planning?

Answer 4

1. Help managers seek opportunities and deal with challenges.
2. Provide direction to employees.
3. Provide standards for monitoring work progress.

Question 5

What is the planning process?

Answer 5

1. Establish objectives and goals.
2. Gather useful and relevant information.
3. Evaluate alternative plans and choose the best option.
4. Formulate the plan.
5. Implement the plan.

Question 6

What is organising?

Answer 6

Organising refers to the process of determining what tasks are to be done and how the tasks are to be grouped.

Question 7

What are the SMART goals?

Answer 7

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based

Question 8

What are the management levels?

Answer 8

Top management, Middle management, Front-line management.

Question 9

What is the role of top management?

Answer 9

Determining the company’s overall goals and direction.

Question 10

What is the role of middle management?

Answer 10

Act as a bridge between top management and front-line management.

Question 11

What is the role of front-line management?

Answer 11

Responsible for the daily operation of the business.

Question 12

What structures are there?

Answer 12

Tall structure and flat structure.

Question 13

What are the differences between a tall structure and flat structure in terms of management?

Answer 13

Levels of management- Tall structure has more levels while flat structure has fewer levels.

Question 14

What are the differences between a small and flat structure in terms of communication?

Answer 14

Communication- Tall structure is slower as there may be many delays and distortion in communication as messages need to pass through many levels while flat structure is faster as messages can go up and down in the organisation quickly with little distortion.

Question 15

What are the differences between a tall structure and flat structure in terms of efficiency and flexibility?

Answer 15

Efficiency and flexibility- Tall structure is less efficient and flexible as complicated coordination is required among many levels while flat structure is more efficient and flexible as actions can be taken quickly.

Question 16

What are the differences between tall structure and flat structure in terms of span of control?

Answer 16

Tall structure has a narrower span of control while flat structure has a wider span of control.

Question 17

What are the differences between tall structure and flat structure in terms of employee in terms of employee motivation?

Answer 17

Tall structure has lower employee motivation because employees are closely monitored by managers while flat structure enjoy more autonomy and that is why they have higher motivation.

Question 18

What is line authority?

Answer 18

Line authority is the authority given to a job position at a higher level for giving instructions to those directly below them.

Question 19

What is staff authority?

Answer 19

Staff authority is the authority given to a job position that is created to support, assist and give advice to other departments.

Question 20

What are the three common methods of forming departments?

Answer 20

By function, by product and by location.

Question 21

What is leading?

Answer 21

Leading is the process of guiding, directing and motivating people to work towards achieving organisational goals.

Question 22

What are three leaderships?

Answer 22

1. Autocratic leadership.
2. Participative leadership.
   3.Laissez-faire leadership.

Question 23

What is autocratic leadership?

Answer 23

Managers who use autocratic leadership do not involve subordinates in decision-making. They keep all the power to themselves and make all decisions.

Question 24

Name the advantages of autocratic leadership.

Answer 24

1. Quick decisions. As the manager is solely responsible for making decisions and no other people are involved, quick decisions and no other people are involved, quick decisions can be made.
2. More efficient operations: Autocratic leaders usually exercise strict control over their subordinates. They can reduce delays and enhance the company’s operational efficiency.

Question 25

Name the disadvantages of using autocratic leadership.

Answer 25

1. Lower employee motivation: As employees are required to strictly obey orders, they may become passive and unwilling to take the initiative. They often have lower job satisfaction and are less committed to their work.
2. Heavy reliance on the manager: As the manager has to make all decisions, he has a heavy workload. If he is too busy to make timely decisions, the company’s operations may be affected.
3. Narrow scope of view: By making decisions along, the manager has a narrow scope of view and his decisions may be subjected to bias. This may result in poor results.

Question 26

When should autocratic leadership be adopted?

Answer 26

1. Employees are passive and inexperienced.
2. Employees are not willing to take one job responsibilities.
3. There is a crisis and quick decision is required.
4. The information needed for decision-making is available only to the manager.
5. Employees are likely to resist the decision.
6. Employees are only responsible for simple and repetitive tasks.

Question 27

What is participative leadership?

Answer 27

Managers who use participative leadership share their power with their subordinates and involve them in decision-making. They are willing to accept ideas and suggestions from others.

Question 28

Name the advantages of using participative leadership.

Answer 28

1. Widen the manager’s exposure: Ideas and suggestions from different employees can widen the scope of his view and result in better decisions.
2. Strengthen employees’ support for business decisions: As employees are involved in decision-making, they are more willing to carry out the decisions made. This also results in a mutual understanding between the management and employees.
3. Enhancing employees’ commitment and motivation: Involving employees in decision-making would make them feel that the management values their opinions. Therefore, they will be more committed and motivated to work for the company.

Question 29

Name the disadvantages of using participative leadership.

Answer 29

1. Lower operational efficiency: Involvement of man people slow down the decision-making process.
2. Increase risk of information leaks: In order to make decisions together with employees, the manager may need to share sensitive information with them. This will increase the risk of leaking sensitive information to outsiders and cause huge harm to the company.

Question 30

When should participative leadership be adopted?

Answer 30

1. Employees are capable and experienced.
2. Employees are willing to take on additional job responsibilities.
3. Employees may possess more information needed for decision-making than manager.
4. The decision can only be carried out with employees’ support.

Question 31

What is laissez-faire leadership?

Answer 31

Managers who use laissez-faire leadership delegate their authority to subordinates and allow them to make their own decisions. Manager do not provide any instruction and guidance to employees.

Question 32

Name the advantages of using laissez-faire leadership.

Answer 32

1. Greater employee motivation: As employees enjoy autonomy at work, they gain a greater sense of challenge regarding their jobs.
2. Encourage innovation: As employees are allowed to decide what they want to do and how to complete their tasks, this encourages creativity and innovation.

Question 33

Name the disadvantages of using laissez-faire leadership.

Answer 33

1. Chaos in the workplace: As manager does not coordinate employees’ work or specify what each employee should do, employees may just focus on their own tasks and fail to cooperate with others. They may even act in their own self-interest and fight over resources.
2. Lack of directions for passive or inexperienced employees: Passive or inexperienced employees may feel frustrated and helpless as they do not receive any instruction or guidance from the managers. It lowers the job satisfaction and work efficiency.

Question 34

When should laissez-faire leadership be adopted?

Answer 34

1. Employees can work independently and are highly motivated.
2. Employees’ tasks required great freedom of expression, such as painting and design.
3. Employees’ tasks require a high level or creativity.

Question 35

What is controlling?

Answer 35

Controlling is the process of monitoring activities to ensure that they are being done as planned.

Question 36

What is the control process?

Answer 36

1. Set performance standards.
2. Measure actual performance.
3. Compare actual performance with standards.
4. Analyse deviations and take corrective actions

Question 37

What are the two importances of management>

Answer 37

1. Helps to achieve organisational effectively.
2. Ensure efficient use of resources

Question 38

What are the four principles of effective management?

Answer 38

1. Division of work
2. Unity of command
3. Unity of direction
4. Balancing authority and responsibility

Question 39

What is division of work?

Answer 39

Under the division of work, the production process is broken down into many different tasks and with every worker concentrating on one or few tasks. (Specialisation)

Question 40

Name the advantages of division of work.

Answer 40

1. Increase efficiency: Practice make perfect. It helps to increase production and reduce mistakes.
2. Save time: Time can be saved as workers do not have to switch from one position to another.
3. Facilitate automation: As the production process if divided into small tasks, it is easier for managers to make use of specialised machines or equipment to replace labour. This allows to increase productivity and save on labour express.

Question 41

Name the disadvantages of division of work.

Answer 41

1. Poor job satisfaction: Finding their work boring because of repeating their tasks.
2. High cost of mistakes: As the 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.
3. Low flexibility: Workers with specialised skills may not be able to perform other tasks. Managers will find it hard to deploy manpower in the production process.

Question 42

What is unity of command?

Answer 42

Unity of command means that each employee takes orders from and reports to one superior only.

Question 43

What problems will violating unity of command lead to?

Answer 43

1. Confusion to subordinates: If they receive conflicting instructions from two or more managers, they may get confused and have difficulty carrying out their jobs.
2. Conflicts among managers: It may adversely affect the company’s operations since the chain of command or line of authority is not clearly defined and are allowed to give instructions to the same group of employees directly.

Question 44

What is unity of command?

Answer 44

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 objectives.

Question 45

Name the advantages of unity of direction.

Answer 45

1. Achieve organisational goals effectively: Since the efforts of all employees are directed at achieving the same goals.
2. Avoid conflicts among departments: No conflicting goals which can facilitate management and avoid conflicts.
3. Enhance team spirit: As they are working towards the same goal, they have better team spirit and morale may be enhanced.

Question 46

What is authority and what is responsibility?

Answer 46

Authority is the formal and legitimate power given by an organisation to a person in a certain position to compete his assigned tasks.
Responsibility is the obligation of a person to perform his assigned tasks.

Question 47

How to balance authority and responsibility?

Answer 47

1. Parity of authority and responsibility.
2. Delegation.

Question 48

Elaborate on parity of authority and responsibility of how to balance authority and responsibility.

Answer 48

Authority and responsibility go in hand-in-hand and should be in balance. If a person has greater responsibilities and involves more complicated tasks, more authority should be given to the person in that position.

Question 49

Elaborate on delegation of how to balance authority and responsibility.

Answer 49

Delegation is the assignment of work and the transfer of formal authority and responsibility to complete that work from a superior to a subordinate. Although managers can delegate tasks to their subordinates, they are still accountable for the final results. This is because managers have to oversee and monitor the tasks being carried out by subordinates. They still make important decisions. Managers should only delegate authority if subordinates have the ability, knowledge and sense of responsibility to handle the assigned tasks and the tasks do not have a great impact on the company.