Exam 1 Flashcards
• Resources
o Include assets such as:
o People and their skills, know-how, and experience
o Machinery
o Raw materials
o Computers and information technology
o Patents, financial capital, and loyal customers and employees
• Efficiency
o A measure of how well or how productively resources are used to achieve a goal
• Effectiveness
measure of the appropriateness of the goals an organization is pursuing and the degree to which the organization achieves those goals
o How good were the goals, were they effective?
Conceptual skills
o The ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and distinguish between cause and effect
Human skills
o The ability to understand, alter, lead, and control the behavior of other individuals and groups
Technical skills
o Job-specific skills required to perform a particular type of work or occupation at a high level
Core competency
o Specific set of departmental skills, abilities, knowledge and experience that allows one organization to outperform its competitors
o Skills for a competitive advantage
Competitive advantage
o Ability of one organization to outperform other organizations because it produces desired
Empowerment
o Giving employees more authority and responsibility over how they perform their work activities
Innovation
o The process of creating new or improved goods and services or developing better ways to produce or provide them
Job Specialization
o Process by which a division of labor occurs as different workers specialize in different tasks over time
o Increasing job specialization increases efficiency and leads to higher organizational performance
Scientific management
o The study of how to create an organizational structure and control system that leads to high efficiency and effectiveness
o Organizational structure – system of task and authority relationships that control how employees use resources to achieve the organization’s goals
Behavioral management
o The study of how managers should personally behave to motivate employees and encourage them to perform at high levels and be committed to the achievement of organizational goals
o Concerned that Taylor ignored the human side of the organization
o Suggested workers help in analyzing their jobs
o If workers have relevant knowledge of the task, then they should be in
control of the work process itself
The Hawthorne Studies and Human Relations
o Studies of how characteristics of the work setting affected worker fatigue and performance at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company from 1924-1932
o Worker productivity was measured at various levels of light illumination
Researchers found that regardless of whether the light levels were raised or lowered, worker productivity increased.
o Essentially, workers performance changes when they’re being watched
Theory X
o A set of negative assumptions about workers that leads to the conclusion that a manager’s task is to supervise workers closely and control their behavior
Very hierarchical
Belief that employees are inherently lazy
Managers should manage closely
Strict work rules
Theory Y
o A set of positive assumptions about workers that leads to the conclusion that a manager’s task is to create a work setting that encourages commitment to organizational goals and provides opportunities for workers to be imaginative and to exercise initiative and self-direction
Belief that employees are not inherently lazy
Allow employees some room to do their job
Managers should decentralize authority
Management science theory
o Contemporary approach to management that focuses on the use of rigorous quantitative techniques to help managers make maximum use of organizational resources to produce goods and services
Quantitative management
o Utilizes mathematical techniques, like linear programming, modeling, simulation, and chaos theory
Operations management
o Gives managers a set of techniques they can use to analyze any aspect of an organization’s production system to increase efficiency
Total quality management
o Focuses on analyzing an organization’s input, conversion, and output activities to increase product quality
Management information systems
o Give managers information about events occurring inside the organization as well as in its external environment—information that is vital for effective decision making
Open system
o A system that takes resources from its external environment and transforms them into goods and services that are then sent back to that environment where they are bought by customers
Closed system
o A self-contained system that is not affected by changes in its external environment
o Likely to experience entropy (tunnel vision) and lose its ability to control itself
o Example: Government
Synergy
o The performance gains that result from the combined actions of individuals and departments
o Possible only in an organized system
