Review Questions Part 1 Flashcards
Related to strategy, explain “everything you know” about the Big Aha and best practices
The Big Aha is a sustainable, competitive advantage. The best practices are the best ways that a company does business.
Make an argument for why the differentiation strategy (as opposed to the low cost/low price strategy) is easier to implement for a new company starting out.
It is hard to compete based on size so it is easier for a company to differentiate by being unique.
What are the two most important reasons why an organization should have a strategy?
- Provides you with a plan/direction.
- Helps to allocate resources
In terminating an employee for nonperformance, a manager should try to do two things. What are they?
- Minimize humiliation
- No surprises
In terminating an employee for integrity violations, a manager should do two things. What are they?
- Don’t hesitate or feel guilty
- Let other employees know why you had to let the employee go
In laying off employees due to an economic downturn, what is Welch’s primary piece of advice?
Every employee should know the financial status of the company so that if there are layoffs they don’t come as a big surprise.
Related to terminating employees, what is the Dead Man Walking effect, and what are the two reasons why it occurs
Everybody knows the person is going to be fired, including the person being fired. It occurs because the boss wants validation from fellow employees that the person needed to be fired so they keep them around for a longer period of time. Also, managers inherently don’t like to fire people so they put it off.
We read an article where Radio Shack laid off 400 employees by sending out a rather insensitive e-mail. Explain how e-mail could have been used in a more sensitive and effective manner in this situation.
The e-mail could have been personalized and left the option for an interview to talk with management. It also could have had more information on severance pay, future employment, or reasons they had to lay off so many people.
If an interviewer asks you to talk about a situation that you did not handle well, what is the most important point to emphasize?
Admit your mistake and talk about what you learned from the situation and what you would do better given another chance.
What are the four primary reasons why CEO compensation is so high in the U.S.?
- Poor succession planning by the board of directors -People have their friends on the board
- a good CEO is worth the paycheck
- compensation is public which drives up compensation
Related to crisis management, Welch talks about “seeking immunity.” What does he mean by this?
Once you have a crisis, you will learn from it and never have to go through the same crisis again.
Refer to the salary and performance grids from Pillsbury. Explain how they are used to determine an employee’s increase in salary. Why do the percentages of possible salary increase get smaller as an employee salary is higher in the range?
Superstars are in the bottom because they keep getting promoted into the bottom third. The less ambitious people are in the top third because they stay in the same position for a long time.
We discussed self-managed teams at Whole Foods Market. What characteristics of these teams made them so effective?
Teams pick the employees that work for them. Every team has a target and if they meet their target the team members get a bonus. There is an incentive to cooperate with other teams so that customers come to the store.
What are the two reasons why employers have wide-ranging legal rights to monitor an employee’s use of a company computer?
- It is an office computer so it is their property.
- They are paying you to do work on the computer.
