GeneralQuestions

Question 1

What are Porter’s five forces?

Answer 1

Competitive rivalry, bargaining power of both buyers and suppliers, threats of new entrants, threat of substitutes

Question 2

What are Michael Porter’s two competitive strategies?

Answer 2

Differentiation and Cost Leadership

Question 3

What is a ‘cost leader’?

Answer 3

A firm that tries to lower as many costs as possible, even at the expense of quality

Question 4

What is a core competency?

Answer 4

What a company does, or has, that makes it competitive in the market.

Question 5

What are Max Weber’s types of legitimate authority?

Answer 5

Rational, charismatic, traditional

Question 6

What are Steven Lukes’ three dimensions of power?

Answer 6

Decision-making (i.e. direct), nondecision-making (agenda -setting), and ideological

Question 7

What does Henri Fayol list as a manager’s duties?

Answer 7

Division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to a general interest, renumeration, generalization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, espirit de corps

Question 8

What is Simon’s concept of bounded rationality?

Answer 8

The concept that one’s decision-making ability is limited given many factors, including limited information, time, etc

Question 9

Which of Lukes three powers does the following case provide an example of? A senior manager decides that they should not talk about concerns he has received about the safety of the company’s newest manufacturing plant in the next site management meeting and ensures it is not included in the agenda.

Answer 9

The second face of power.

Question 10

Kets de Vries & ; Miller (1987) identified 5 types of destructive managers. The types include: - Dramatic Managers - Suspicious Managers - Detached Managers - Depressive Managers What is the fifth type of destructive manager?

Answer 10

Compulsive Managers.

Question 11

Which of Lukes three powers does the following case provide an example of? A person is convinced by an American Politician that the ‘War on Terror’ means that they should stop Muslims from entering the country to prevent terrorist attacks.

Answer 11

The third face of power.

Question 12

Which of Lukes three powers does the following case provide an example of? A local woman tries to sue a large corporation but loses the case as she cannot afford the expensive lawyers the corporation can.

Answer 12

The first face of power

Question 13

In industries where there were lots of opportunities to differentiate products with branding etc. Ron Burt et al. (1994) found that there was a strong correlation between the strength of the organisation’s culture and their performance. True or false?

Answer 13

False. There was a weaker correlation in industries that had greater opportunities for product differentiation, however, in industries where there were not these opportunities there was found to be a very strong correlation.

Question 14

Hofstede (1980) identified four components that explained the variation of cultures within organisations. They were: Power distance; Uncertainty avoidance; Individualism vs collectivism; Masculinity vs Femininity Which two other components were added by later research?

Answer 14

Long-term vs short-term orientation, and indulgence.

Question 15

Name Charles Handy’s four types of culture

Answer 15

Power culture (high centralisation, low formalisation), role culture (high centralisation, high formalisation), task culture (low centralisation, high formalisation), person culture (low centralisation, low formalisation).

Question 16

What forms the outer ring of Schien’s (1982) model of an organisation’s culture?

Answer 16

Artefacts (observable objects that represent an organisations culture e.g. the SBS quad is designed to replicate the quad layout of Oxford colleges).

Question 17

Give three reasons that culture is thought of as a source of competitive advantage.

Answer 17

It is hard to copy, very successful ones are rare, very successful ones are valuable.

Question 18

What were Pfeffer’s (1981) four main ways of assessing power?

Answer 18

• Its determinants • Its consequences • Its symbols • Through interviews

Question 19

What two features of managers are central to Kotter’s view of management?

Answer 19

• Managers are reactionary • They have individual interests

Question 20

What is Argyris’s (1977) main view of a manager’s role?

Answer 20

• To engage in double loop learning- finding out how problems arose and dealing with the underlying issues.

Question 21

How do Christensen (1995) and Yu & Hang (2010) define a disruptive technology?

Answer 21

• Be inferior on the attributes that mainstream customers value • Offer new value propositions to attract a new customer segment or the more price sensitive mainstream market • Be sold at a lower price • Penetrate the market from niche to mainstream

Question 22

Which sociologist defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind”?

Answer 22

• Geert Hofstede (1991)

Question 23

In Beer and Nohria’s (2000) story of corporate change Theory E is do with change based on economic values, it is top down and the “hard [not soft] approach to change”, what is Theory O?

Answer 23

• Bottom up • “Soft approach to change” • Develop corporate culture and human capability • Through “the process of changing, obtaining feedback, reflecting, and making further changes”

Question 24

What percentage of start-ups fail?

Answer 24

According to Forbes: 90%!

Question 25

Who said “the business of business is business” and what was their point?

Answer 25

• Milton Friedman (1970) • That organisation’s only social responsibility was to use its resources, remain within the rules and maximise shareholder

Question 26

What are the three conditions that a firm’s culture must have to provide a sustained competitive advantage? – Barney (1986)

Answer 26

1) Culture must be valuable (add financial value) – some can reduce effectiveness 2) Culture must be rare – some are common, but most firms reflect unique values of people who work there and founded them 3) Culture must be imperfectly imitable: if others attempt to imitate they will be at some disadvantage, e.g. lack experience – hard to tell exactly what part of a culture adds value

Question 27

What are the 3 social scientific perspectives we can use, according to Martin (1992), to define the nature and substance of culture?

Answer 27

1) Integration: all cultural manifestations are interpreted are reinforcing the same theme 2) Differentiation: cultural manifestations are sometimes inconsistent 3) Fragmentation: focus on ambiguity as the essence of organizational culture

Question 28

McClelland, D. and Burnham, D. (2003) in ‘Power is the great Motivator’ say Managers fall into 3 motivational groups. What are they?

Answer 28

1) Affiliative managers – seek to boost own popularity rather than promoting goals of the organization “the affiliative manager wants to stay on good terms with everybody and, therefore, is the one most likely to make exceptions for particular needs” 2) Managers who set organizational goals and focus on achieving them, putting their own recognition first 3) Institutional managers – seek to build power through influence, not individual achievement = MOST EFFECTIVE MOTIVATOR

Question 29

What are French’s (1959) two types of personal power?

Answer 29

• Referent: charm and charisma, depends on how much recipient wants to become more like power agent, or identify with them - Expert: ability to influence through specialised skills or knowledge base, needs to be special to recipient

Question 30

What four key topics in the study of power in organisations does Daft (1995) identify?

Answer 30

1) Power versus authority 2) Sources of vertical power 3) Sources of horizontal power 4) Rational choice versus political behavior

Question 31

What did Zaleznik (1977) argue that the differences between leadership and management included?

Answer 31

• Managers focus on process and stability, and on internal stakeholders - Leaders focus on change and chaos, and on bridging internal and external stakeholders - Leadership traditionally associated with power

Question 32

What is Machiavellianism?

Answer 32

Acting in accordance with the principles of government analysed in Machiavelli’s (1513) ‘The Prince’, in which the use of craft and deceit is placed above morality when trying to maintain or pursue power and authority.

Question 33

What is “Non-decision making”

Answer 33

Bachrach and Baratz (1962) suggested a 2nd face of power whereby those in positions of power use their influence to limit the scope of discussion or to prevent conflicts from ever arising. (It corresponds to Lukes’ second dimension of power)

Question 34

What is “Ideological power”

Answer 34

Lukes (1974) 3rd dimension of power, which posits that actors may exercise power over subordinates by subtly influencing and manipulating their interests to align with the power-wielding actor’s own interests.

Question 35

What is “Charismatic authority”

Answer 35

Individuals are able to exercise charismatic domination due to their socially preferable personality which allows them to reach an unofficial level of authority (Weber, 1924).

Question 36

In regards to a discussion of power, what is Foulcault’s (1977) idea of a “Panopticon”

Answer 36

It is Foulcault’s interpretation of a prison design by Bentham, in which prisoners can never know if they are being watched or not. He sees the building as a metaphor of a mechanism of power in contemporary society in which agents self-regulate according to an “inner policeman”.

Question 37

What is the “Iron Cage”

Answer 37

Weber (1924) used this term to describe the rationalisation inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. Individuals are trapped in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control.

Question 38

What is “Cultural hegemony”

Answer 38

Gramsci’s (1977) concept which forms part of Marxist philosophy. The term refers to the ability of a group of people to hold power over social institutions and influence thoughts and behaviour by propagating their normative ideas and values, that then become the dominant view within the institution.

Question 39

What is a “Total Institution”

Answer 39

(Goffman, 1961) used this term to describe a situation where a great number of similar people lead an enclosed, formally administered life.

Question 40

What is “Theory Z”

Answer 40

Ouchi (1980) popularised this theory of the employee in the 1980s. He claimed that the secret to the economic successes of Japanese over American firms was a management style that focused on a common set of core values and corporate culture.

Question 41

What is a “threat-rigidity response”

Answer 41

(Staw et al., 1981) suggested that an organisational change to culture can be interpreted as a threat to the status-quo of subgroups culture, particularly if the change in not congruent. This then leads to psychological stress and anxiety, on an individual level, which induces physiological arousal and causes employees to provide only well-learned and habituated responses.

Question 42

What does Keith Grint highlight as the four competing approaches to leadership?

Answer 42

o person- who can be a leader o position – where leaders fit o process – how leaders lead o results – what leaders accomplish

Question 43

Name Pfeffer’s six rules of power for leaders and aspiring leaders

Answer 43

o DON’T wish the world were different. o DON’T self‐handicap o DON’T rely on good performance alone to acquire power. o DON’T stand out. o DON’T try to be too smart o DON’T develop your personal power

Question 44

Explain Simon’s key concept of bounded rationality

Answer 44

o the optimality of the decision making and information processing of the human mind is constrained o people are only able to process a limited amount of information o people are only able to perceive a limited number of solutions and outcomes

Question 45

Identify Henry Foyol’s 6 managerial functions

Answer 45

o Forecasting o Planning o Organizing o Commanding o Coordinating o Controlling

Question 46

What is critical management studies (CMS)?

Answer 46

o CMS focuses on management as an example of social practice. o CMS describes itself as an approach to doing research rather than a school or tradition, and rejects the idea that there is a particular ‘right’ way of doing CMS. o CMS embraces various theoretical traditions including anarchism, critical theory, feminism, Marxism, poststructuralism, postmodernism, postcolonialism and psychoanalysis