Definitions

Question 1

Planning

Answer 1

Defining goals for future organisational performance and deciding o the tasks and use of resources needed to attain them.

Question 2

Organising

Answer 2

Assigning tasks, grouping of tasks into departments and allocating resources to departments.

Question 3

Leading

Answer 3

involves the use of influence to motivate employees to achieve the organisation’s goal.

Question 4

Controlling

Answer 4

Monitoring employees’ activities, keeping the organisation on track towards its goals, and making corrections as needed.

Question 5

Organisational performance

Answer 5

the organisation’s ability to attain its goals by using resources in an efficient and effective manner.

Question 6

Organisation

Answer 6

a social entity that is goal-directed and deliberately structured

Question 7

Effectiveness

Answer 7

The degree to which the organisation achieves a stated goal.

Question 8

Efficiency

Answer 8

the use of minimal resources, raw materials, money and people, to produce a desired volume of output.

Question 9

Scientific Management (F.W. Taylor)
- management knows best

Answer 9

Emphasised a rational, scientific approach to the study of management; sought to make organisations efficient operating machines.

Question 10

Humanistic perspective (Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard)

Answer 10

Emphasised the importance of understanding human behaviours, need and attitudes in the workplace.

Question 11

Organisation’s external environment

Answer 11

Reflects an open systems view of organisations.

Question 12

P in PEST analysis

Answer 12

Political-Legal
Political activities and legislation targeting organisational behaviour; the political regime and stability of the region.

Question 13

E in PEST analysis

Answer 13

Economic
The Overall economic health of the region in which the organisation operates; interest rates and monetary policies; costs of raw materials.

Question 14

S in PEST analysis

Answer 14

Social-Cultural

The demographics, the customs and values, and lifestyle trends of the population in which the organisation operates.

Question 15

T in PEST analysis

Answer 15

Technological

Advances in technology and scientific knowledge.

Question 16

Coping with uncertainty

Answer 16

1. Adapting the organisation to changes in the environment

2. Shaping the environment to the organisation’s needs.

Question 17

Goal

Answer 17

a desired future state that the organisation attempts to realise

Question 18

Plan

Answer 18

a blueprint specifying the resource allocations, schedules and other actions necessary for attaining goals.

Question 19

SMART goals

Answer 19

Specific, Measurable, Aggressive yet attainable, Relevant, Time-bound

Question 20

MBO (Peter Drucker)

Answer 20

Management by objectives

1. Set Goals
2. Develop action plans
3. Review progress (and take corrective action)
4. Appraise performance

Question 21

Planning in a turbulent environment (3 plannings)

Answer 21

1. Contingency planning/ Scenario planning
   - brainstorm possible scenarios, extrapolate current situation, consider future discontinuous
   - develop strategies to deal with each scenario (contingency planning)
2. Crisis management planning
   - mitigate the effects of sudden and devastating events
3. Decentralised emergent planning
   - decentralised planning staff, more informal, strategic direction

Question 22

Strategic management

Answer 22

the set of decisions and actions used to formulate and implement strategies (or plans) that aim to give an organisation its competitive advantage.

Question 23

Formulation

Answer 23

planning and decision making that leads to establishment of the organisation’s goals and a specific strategic plan.

Question 24

Execution

Answer 24

use of managerial and organisational tools to direct resources towards achieving strategic outcomes.

Question 25

VRIO framework

Answer 25

Valuable, Rareness, Imitability, Organisation

Question 26

Core competencies

Answer 26

resources and capabilities that generate sustainable competitive advantage for an organisation

Question 27

Business level strategy

Answer 27

Differentiation, Cost Leadership and Focus

Question 28

Corporate level strategy

Answer 28

considers an organisation to be a portfolio of businesses, resources, capabilities or activities.

Question 29

Strategic vehicles

Answer 29

1. Growth/ innovation from within
2. Mergers and acquisitions
3. Strategic partnerships

Question 30

heuristics

Answer 30

intuitive shortcuts learned from experience

Question 31

Organisational structure

Answer 31

the framework in which the organisation defines how tasks are divided, the work of employees and departments coordinated, and authority distributed.

Question 32

Contingency factors affecting organisational structure

Answer 32

Strategy, size, technology, environmental uncertainty.

Question 33

organisational culture

Answer 33

the customary or traditional ways of thinking and doing things, which are shared to a greater or lesser degree by all members of the organisation and which new members must learn and at least partially accept in order to be accepted in the service of the firm.

Question 34

Adaptability culture

Answer 34

Values creativity and innovation

encourage individual initiative and autonomy in decision making.

Question 35

Achievement culture

Answer 35

Results-oriented
values competitiveness, personal initiative, cost-cutting and achievement
handsome rewards for high performers.

Question 36

Involvement culture

Answer 36

high value on meeting the needs of employees

Values cooperation, consideration and equality.

Question 37

Consistency culture

Answer 37

Values and rewards standardisation, control, and a well-defined structure for authority and decision making.
Uses an internal focus and a consistency orientation.