Management and Administration

Question 1

Cost-benefit analysis

Answer 1

• estimates the total monetary value, costs and benefits, of a project.
• typical for public projects (highways, public facilities)
• social and environmental benefits and costs must be given monetary values.
• set for particular time and location
• compare current situation with proposed project

History: Jules Dupuit conceived of it in 1848. Federal Navigation Act of 1936 required US Army Corps of Engineers waterway system projects to have benefits exceeding costs

Question 2

Cost-effectiveness Analysis

Answer 2

• selecting among competing projects when resources are limited
• (Cost of new strategy - cost of current pracctice) / (effect of new strategy - effect of current practice)
• CE ratio can help determine which option is most effective

developed by the military

Question 3

net present value

Answer 3

• calculates the net monetary value of a project
• discounted to today’s present value
• NPV > 0 means monetary benefit outweights its monetary costs
• need to know: years of the project’s lifespan, quantified monetary benefits, monetary costs, and interest rate

Question 4

Internal Rate of Return

Answer 4

• evaluation of financial benefit of a project
• NPV = 0, interest rate blank
• if IRR is greater than available market interest rate, the project is financially beneficial

Question 5

Goals Achievement Matrix

GAM

Answer 5

• comprehensive way to evaluate different projects
• table that lists projects in rows and evaluation criteria in columns
• score each project against evaluation criteria and compare

Question 6

Gantt Chart

Answer 6

• focuses on sequence of tasks neccesary for project completion
• x-axis is time scale
• each task is a single horizontal bar
• length of bars correspond to duration of task
• often show dependency, when one task cannot begin until another is completed

Question 7

Linear Programming

Answer 7

• attempts to find optimum design solution for a project
• takes a set of decision variables, within constraints, and generates an optimum design solution

Question 8

Program Evaluation and Review Technique

PERT

Answer 8

• scheduling method; large scale project
• graphically illustrates the interrelationships of project tasks
• good when precise time estimates are not available for project tasks
• steps: identify the specific activities and milestones; determine the proper sequence of activities; construct a network diagram; determine the critical path; update the PERT chart as the project progresses

History: developed in the 1950s by the US Navy

Question 9

What are the steps of the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)?

Answer 9

• identify the specific activities and milestones
• determine the proper sequence of activities
• construct a network diagram
• determine the critical path
• update the PERT chart as the project progresses

Question 10

Critical Path Method

CPM

Answer 10

• project analysis tool, large-scale projects
• generates a “critical path” through the project tasks
• each tasks has a known amount of time to complete
• tasks cannot be completed before the previous one
• longest path is the critical pathway

Question 11

What does effective management of a planning organization require consideration of?

Answer 11

• organizational form
• human resources
• administrative operations
• strategic planning
• budget and finance

Question 12

horizontal/flat organizational structure

Answer 12

• few or no levels of management between management and staff level employees
• less supervision
• employees more involved in decision-making process and have greater responsibility
• pros: can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and speed up commmunication without excess maangement
• cons: employees may lack a clear sense of directive or job duties; employees tend to be generalists rather than deep knowlege in a few subject areas; potential for power struggles over decision-making authority
• better for small organizations

Question 13

Verticial/heirarchical organizational structure

Answer 13

• resembles a pyramid
• each employee subordinate to someone else except at top
• pros: clear sense of leadership and their level of responsibility on each task and project; promotional opportunities for employees to move “up”; employees can develop expertise in one area resulting in specialists; departmental loyalty
• cons: departments may not communicate well and rivalries could develop; more bureacracy which can slow responsiveness; could be more expensive with more mangagement

Question 14

Is a horizontal or vertical structure better for larger companies?

Answer 14

vertical

Question 15

Are specialists more likely to develop in horizontal or vertical organizational structures?

Answer 15

vertical

Question 16

Matrix organizational structure

Answer 16

• encourage interdisciplinary problem solving
• difficult to manage and can be ineffective for large organizations
• both vertical and horizontal chains of command can form, sometimes causing confusion

Question 17

Compensation Plan

Answer 17

regularly compares salaries to other organizations to determine if salaries are competative

Question 18

Strategic planning

Answer 18

• guide an organization in determining its future
• sets goals, objectives, and policies for reaching the set objectives
• allows an organization to imagine its future while also understanding changes in operations needed
• short term - 5 or fewer years
• sometimes used instead of comprehensive planning, but not as effective at broad scale and scope

Question 19

What are 8 elements/steps of a strategic plan?

Answer 19

1. Analyze the community or organization’s needs
2. identify results - determine what long-term objective the city or organization is going to pursue
3. admit uncertainties - analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats relating to the objectives
4. involve strategic stakeholders
5. identify the role of the city
6. develop a funding policy
7. evaluate performance

Question 20

Results Oriented Management and Accountability

ROMA

Answer 20

• sound management practice that incoporates the use of outcomes or results into the administration, management, and operation of community action agencies
• focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction
• cycle: assessment -> planning -> implementation -> achievement of results -> evaluation -> back to assessment …..

History: launched in 1993 when Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) to improve federal program effectiveness and public accountability

Question 21

Benchmarks

(in ROMA process)

Answer 21

• performance data used for comparative purposes
• can use internal data to benchmark future progress against or data from another program

Question 22

impacts

(in ROMA process)

Answer 22

direct or indirect effects or consequences of achieving program goals

Question 23

outcome indicators

(in ROMA process)

Answer 23

• describe observable, measurable characteristics or changes that represent achievement of an outcome

ex: for a program with desired outcome of participants pursuing a healthy lifestyle could define “healthy lifestyle” as getting at least two hours of exercise each week

Question 24

inputs

(in ROMA process)

Answer 24

resources a program uses to achieve program objectives

examples: staff, volunteers, facilities, curricula, and money

Question 25

Measures

(in ROMA process)

Answer 25

• dependent on the objective to be measured, the availability of opportunities for measurement, and the cost of the measurement process
• can be quantitative, qualitative, objective, or subjective