Management Styles Flashcards
Define ‘Business’;
A business is an organisation, enterprise or business engaged in the production and trade of ‘goods and services’, usually for profit.
Define ‘goods’;
A tangible object that can be held
Define ‘services’;
An intangible object that is own but can’t necessarily be held
What are the 4 key business functions?
- Operations
- Marketing
- Finance
- Human Resources
Which arrangement of the following is correct?
a) PLOC
b) POLC
c) POCL
d) LPOC
b) POLC
What is planning?
Planning is the process of setting objectives and finding ways to achieve those objectives
That levels of management take part in planning?
Planning is a commonplace activity undertaken by all levels of management
What are the 3 levels of planning (from highest to lowest)?
- Strategic Planning
- Tactical Planning
- Operational Planning
What is strategic planning?
- Long term planning, spanning 3-5 years.
- Is conducted by senior managers
- Big picture planning
- E.g. Expanding overseas
What is tactical planning?
- Medium term planning, spanning 1-2 years.
- Conducted by middle managers
- Often departmental objectives
- E.g. Increase sales
What is operational planning?
- Short term, day-to-day planning
- Conducted by lower managers
- E.g. Weekly roster
What is organising?
Organising is the process of defining the relationship between staff and tasks, so that al resources of an organisation are working towards its objectives.
What is leading?
Leading is the process of influencing and monitoring employees to achieve the organisations goals and objectives
What is controlling?
Controlling is the process of establishing ways to compare actual performance with planned performance.
What does controlling include?
- establishing benchmarks
- determining methods of measuring performance
- measuring actual performance
- comparing results agains benchmark
- taking corrective action when necessary
Overall, what is a top mangers role?
- set objectives
- plan tasks; make decisions
- scan and access the environment
Overall, what is a middle mangers role?
- allocate resources
- report to top managers
- oversea lower-level management
- develope and implement activities
Overall, what is a low-level mangers role?
- supervise employees
- involve in day-to-day activities
- report to middle managers
- coordinate activities
What does the abbreviation POLC stand for?
Planning
Organising
Leading
Controlling
Advantages of autocratic managers?
- clear direction and procedures
- employees roles and expectations are clearly defined
- control is centralised and production is maximised
What are the disadvantages of an autocratic manager?
- no employee input allowed
- can result is high absenteeism
Advantages of persuasive manager?
- Gain trust and support through persuasion
- instruction and explanation remain clear and constant
What are the disadvantages of a persuasive manager?
- attitudes and trust remain negative, employees fail to give full support to managers
- communication poor and limited
- frustration of employees as unable to contribute decision making
What are the advantages of a consultative manager?
- employees input allowed for a greater variety of ideas, resulting in better decisions
- employees begin to have some ownership of the organisation, so take more interest in it, resulting in improved productivity, motivation and commitment
- decisions are discussed prior to being made, resulting in tasks being completed more efficiently and with better results
What are the disadvantages of a consultative manager?
- The time taken to consult with each employee before making a decision
- some issues are not suitable for a widespread consultation
- not every employees suggestion can be adopted, which may cause conflict or resentment
What are the advantages of a participative manager?
- employer/ employee relations are positive
- motivation and job satisfaction are optimal because employees feel they have played a part in meeting the organisational objectives
- employees have a greater opportunity to acquire more skills
- there is a high level of trust between employees and managers
What are the disadvantages of a participative manager?
- The role and control of manager maybe weakened
- not all employees want to contribute
- making decisions can be very time-consuming when differing and conflict views have to be considered
What are the advantages of a laissez-faire manager?
- employees feel a sense of ownership which can promote outstanding results
- there is continued encouragement for creativity, which is conductive to a dynamic work environment
- in a flat structure, communication is wide open and ideas are both discussed and shared
What are the disadvantages of a laissez-faire manager?
- there is a complete loss of control by management, and may result in the misuse of the organisations resources
- can breed personal conflict where employees may only wish to implement their own ideas instead of working as a team to achieve a common goal
- The focus on meeting organisational objectives can be easily eroded. As a result, management may find themselves with a failed organisation or nothing to manage
What is corporate culture?
Corporate culture includes the values and ethics that are essential to the businesses internal environment, and must be shared by all members of the organisation.
Define what the internal environment of a business is?
The internal environment of a business is those factors that the organisation has direct control over.
How can the corporate culture be created?
- management providing example
- management recognising and rewarding appropriate action
- management communicating aspects of the desired culture
- recruitment and selection practices in line with the desired cultures
- training in line with the desired culture
What does the internal environment of a business include?
- corporate culture and values
- staff
- structure
- policies
- communication
- operations
- technology
What is included within the external environments of a business?
Political/ Legal
Economic
Social/ Cultural
Technological
What are stakeholders?
That take interest in the formants and activities of the business because it has an impact on them. Stakeholders can either be internal or external of the business.
List 8 different kinds of stakeholders;
- Government
- environment
- shareholders
- suppliers
- consumers
- management
- employees
- local community
Identify which of the stakeholders internal or external to a business;
- owners
- Government
- managers
- Customers
- shareholders
- suppliers
- Community
- staff and employees
- owners (l)
- Government (E)
- managers (I)
- Customers (E)
- shareholders (E)
- suppliers (E)
- Community (I & E)
- staff and employees (I)
What are internal stakeholders?
Internal stakeholders are entities within a business that are directly impacted by the performance of the business.
What are external stakeholders?
External stakeholders are entities not with in a business itself but do you care about or are affected by its performance
What is organisational effectiveness?
Organisational effectiveness is the degree to which an organisation satisfies the demands of its stakeholders
