Lesson 1 (Chapter 1)

Question 1

What is management?

Answer 1

Getting work done through others. Must be done both efficiently and effectively.

Question 2

What are the 4 classic functions of management?

Answer 2

Planning

Leading

Organizing

Controlling

Question 3

What is planning?

Answer 3

A core term for determining organizational goals and a means for achieving them.

Question 4

What is organizing?

Answer 4

A core term for deciding where decisions will be made, who will do what jobs and tasks, and who will work for whom.

Question 5

What is leading?

Answer 5

A core term for inspiring and motivating workers to work hard and achieve organizational goals.

Question 6

What is controlling?

Answer 6

A core term for monitoring progress toward goal achievement and taking corrective action when needed.

Question 7

What are the 4 kinds of managers?

Answer 7

Top Managers

Middle Managers

First-Line Managers

Team Leaders

Question 8

What do companies look for in managers?

Answer 8

Who would be looking for these skills?

Technical Skills

Human Skills

Conceptual Skills

Motivation to Manage

Question 9

What are some top mistakes that managers make in their jobs?

Answer 9

What are these examples of?

1. Specific business problems
2. Insensitivity (abrasive, intimidating, bully)
3. Cold, aloof, arrogant
4. Betrayed trust
5. Overmanaging, failing to delegate
6. Overly ambitious
7. Failed to staff effectively
8. Unable to think strategically
9. Unable to adapt to a boss with a different style
10. Overly dependent on an advocate or mentor.

Question 10

What are some of the initial expectations of a new manager?

Answer 10

At what time does a recently promoted manager typically experience these expectations?

Be the boss.

Formal authority.

Manage tasks.

The job is not managing people.

Question 11

Explain how and why companies create competitive advantage through people.

Answer 11

Managers in top-performing companies used ideas like employment security, selective hiring, self-managed teams and decentralization, high pay contingent on company performance, extensive training, reduced status distinctions (between managers and employees), and extensive sharing of financial information to achieve financial performance that, on average, was 40 percent higher than that of other companies. (Pfeffer)

What is this practice referred to as?

Question 12

What positions do top managers hold and what do they do?

Answer 12

What type of manager is this?

Positions:

CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, Vice President or Corporate Head.

Roles:

Change, commitment, culture and environment.

Question 13

What positions do middle managers hold and what do they do?

Answer 13

What type of manager is this?

Positions:

General manager, plant manager, regional manager or divisional manager.

Roles:

Resources, ojectives, coordination, subunit performance and strategy implementation.

Question 14

What positions do first-line managers hold and what do they do?

Answer 14

What type of manager is this?

Positions:

Office manager, shift supervisor or department manager.

Roles:

Nonmanagerial worker supervision, teaching & training, scheduling and facilitation.

Question 15

What positions do team leaders hold and what do they do?

Answer 15

What type of manager is this?

Positions:

Team leader, team contact or group facilitator.

Roles:

Facilitation, external relationships and internal relationships.

Question 16

What is a top manager?

Answer 16

These types of managers are executives responsible for the overall direction of the organization.

Question 17

What is a middle manager?

Answer 17

These types of managers are responsible for setting objectives consistent with top management’s goals and for planning and implementing subunit strategies for achieving these objectives.

Question 18

What is a first-line manager?

Answer 18

These types of managers train and supervise the performance of nonmanagerial employees who are directly responsible for producing the company’s products or services.

Question 19

What is a team leader?

Answer 19

These types of managers are responsible for facilitating team activities toward accomplishing a goal

Question 20

What are the 3 main managerial roles as described by Henry Mintzberg?

Answer 20

Who defined these 3 main managerial roles?

Interpersonal

Informational

Decisional

Question 21

What are some examples of an interpersonal role?

Answer 21

Which of the 3 Mintzberg roles is this?

The figurehead role.

The leader role.

The liaison role.

Question 22

What are some examples of an informational role?

Answer 22

Which of the 3 Mintzberg roles is this?

The monitor role.

The disseminator role.

The spokesperson role.

Question 23

What are some examples of a decisional role?

Answer 23

Which of the 3 Mintzberg roles is this?

The entrepreneur role.

The disturbance handler role.

The resource allocator role.

The negotiator role.

Question 24

In Mintzberg’s interpersonal role category, what is a figurehead?

Answer 24

Which role do managers play when they perform ceremonial duties?

Question 25

In Mintzberg’s interpersonal role category, what is a leader?

Answer 25

Which role do managers play when they motivate and encourage workers to accomplish organizational objectives?

Question 26

In Mintzberg’s interpersonal role category, what is a liaison?

Answer 26

Which role do managers play when they deal with people outside their units?

Question 27

In Mintzberg’s informational role category, what is a monitor?

Answer 27

Which role do managers play when they scan their environment for information?

Question 28

In Mintzberg’s informational role category, what is a disseminator?

Answer 28

Which role do managers play when they share information with others in their departments or companies?

Question 29

In Mintzberg’s informational role category, what is a spokesperson?

Answer 29

Which role do managers play when they share information with people outside their departments or companies?

Question 30

In Mintzberg’s decisional role category, what is an entrepreneur?

Answer 30

Which role do managers play when they adapt themselves, their subordinates, and their units to change?

Question 31

In Mintzberg’s decisional role category, what is a disturbance handler?

Answer 31

Which role do managers play when they respond to severe problems that demand immediate action?

Question 32

In Mintzberg’s decisional role category, what is a resource allocator?

Answer 32

Which role do managers play when they decide who gets what resources?

Question 33

In Mintzberg’s decisional role category, what is a negotiator?

Answer 33

Which role do managers play when they negotiate schedules, projects, goals, outcomes, resources, and employee raises?

Question 34

In Mintzberg’s decisional role category, what is a negotiator?

Answer 34

Which role do managers play when they negotiate schedules, projects, goals, outcomes, resources, and employee raises?

Question 35

What distribution of skills are required by the 4 different kinds of managers?

(Also, which skill do all kinds require complete proficiency?)

Answer 35

Question 36

What are technical skills?

Answer 36

What is the term used to describe the specialized procedures, techniques, and knowledge required to get the job done?

Question 37

What are human skills?

Answer 37

What is the term used to describe the ability to work well with others?

Question 38

What are conceptual skills?

Answer 38

What is the term used to describe the ability to see the organization as a whole, understand how the different parts affect one another, and recognize how the company fits into or is affected by its environment?

Question 39

What is motivation to manage?

Answer 39

What is the term used to describe an assessment of how enthusiastic employees are about managing the work of others.

Question 40

Who are arrivers and derailers?

Answer 40

Managers who made it all the way to the top, and managers who were successful early in their careers but were knocked off the fast track by the time they reached the middle to upper levels of management, are referred to as what, respectively?

Question 41

What does a recently promoted manager experience 6 months in to their new position?

Answer 41

At what point does a recently promoted manager typically experience these thoughts?

Initial expectations were wrong.

Fast pace.

Heavy workload.

The job is to be a problem solver and troubleshooter for subordinates.

Question 42

What does a recently promoted manager experience after 1 year in to their new position?

Answer 42

At what point does a recently promoted manager typically experience these thoughts?

No longer “doer”.

Communication, listening and positive reinforcement.

Learning to adapt to and control stress.

The job is people development.

Question 43

Who is Jeffrey Pfeffer?

Answer 43

Who is the author of Competitive Advantage through People and The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First and a Stanford University business professor?

Question 44

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is employment security?

Answer 44

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is the ultimate form of commitment companies can make to their workers, in where employees can innovate and increase company productivity without fearing the loss of their jobs?

Question 45

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is selective hiring?

Answer 45

If employees are the basis for a company’s competitive advantage, and those employees have employment security, what is it called when a company aggressively recruits and selectively screens applicants in order to hire the most talented employees available?

Question 46

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what are self-managed teams and decentralization?

Answer 46

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what are responsible for their own hiring, purchasing, job assignments, and production that can often produce enormous increases in productivity through increased employee commitment and creativity?

In addition, what allows employees who are closest to (and most knowledgeable about) problems, production, and customers to make timely decisions, while also increasing employee satisfaction and commitment?

Question 47

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, how are high wages contingent on organizational performance important?

Answer 47

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what are needed to attract and retain talented workers and to indicate that the organization values its workers?

Question 48

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is training and skill development?

Answer 48

Like a high-tech company that spends millions of dollars to upgrade computers or research and development labs, a company whose competitive advantage is based on its people must invest in what?

Question 49

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is the reduction of status differences?

Answer 49

A company should treat everyone, no matter what the job, as equals. There are no reserved parking spaces. Everyone eats in the same cafeteria and has similar benefits. The result: improved communication as employees focus on problems and solutions rather than on how they are less valued than managers.
What is this called?

Question 50

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, what is it meant by sharing information?

Answer 50

In regards to a competitive advantage through people, if employees are to make decisions that are good for the long-run health and success of the company, they need to be given information about costs, finances, productivity, development times, and strategies that were previously known only by company managers.

What is this called?