Chapter 7

Question 1

autonomous work groups

Answer 1

groups that operate without managers and are completely responsible for controlling work group processes, outputs and behaviour

Question 2

balanced scorecard

Answer 2

measurements of organizational performance in four equally important areas: finances, customers, internal operations, and innovation and learning

Question 3

behaviour control

Answer 3

regulation of the behaviours and actions that workers perform on the job

Question 4

benchmarking

Answer 4

the process of identifying outstanding practices, processes, and standards in other companies and adapting them to your company

Question 5

bureaucratic control

Answer 5

use of hierarchical authority to influence employee behaviour by rewarding or punishing employees for compliance or non-compliance with organizational policies, rules and procedures

Question 6

concertive control

Answer 6

regulation of workers’ behaviour and decisions through work group values and beliefs

Question 7

concurrent control

Answer 7

a mechanism for gathering information about performance deficiencies as they occur, eliminating or shortening the delay between performance and feedback

Question 8

control

Answer 8

a regulatory process of establishing standards to achieve organizational goals, comparing actual performance against the standards, and taking corrective action, when necessary

Question 9

control loss

Answer 9

situation in which behaviour and work procedures do not conform to standards

Question 10

customer defections

Answer 10

performance assessment in which companies identify which customers are leaving and measure the rate at which they are leaving

Question 11

cybernetic feasibility

Answer 11

the extent to which it is possible to implement each step in the control process

Question 12

Economic Value Added (EVA)

Answer 12

the amount by which company profits (revenues minus expenses minus taxes) exceed the cost of capital

Question 13

feedback control

Answer 13

a mechanism for gathering information about performance deficiencies after they occur

Question 14

feedforward control

Answer 14

a mechanism for monitoring performance inputs rather than outputs to prevent or minimize performance deficiencies before they occur

Question 15

normative control

Answer 15

regulation of workers’ behaviour and decisions through widely shared organizational values and beliefts

Question 16

objective control

Answer 16

use of observable measures of worker behaviour or outputs to assess performance and influence behaviour

Question 17

output control

Answer 17

regulation of worker results or outputs through rewards and incentives

Question 18

regulation costs

Answer 18

costs associated with implementing or maintaining control

Question 19

self-control (self-management)

Answer 19

control system in which managers and workers control their own behaviour by setting their own goals, monitoring their own progress, and rewarding themselves for goal achievement

Question 20

standards

Answer 20

a basis of comparison when measuring the extent to which various kinds of organizational performances are satisfactory or unsatisfactory

Question 21

suboptimization

Answer 21

performance improvement in one part of the organization but only at the expense of decreased performance in another part

Question 22

value

Answer 22

customer perception that the product quality is excellent for the price offered.