Robbins Chapter 8

Question 1

Planning involves:

Answer 1

Defining the org’s goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plants to integrate and coordinate work activities

Question 2

4 Reasons behind Planning:

Answer 2

1. Provides direction, 2. Reduces uncertainty, 3. Minimizes Waste and Redundancy, 4. Establishes the goals or standards used in controlling

Question 3

Goals(Objectives)

Answer 3

Desired outcomes/targets

Question 4

Plans

Answer 4

Documents that outline how goals are going to be met

Question 5

Types of Goals:

Answer 5

Stated Goals and Real Goals

Question 6

Stated Goals

Answer 6

Official statements of what an org says, and what it wants its stakeholders to believe, its goals are. Often irrelevant to what actually goes on. Probably better represent mgmt’s PR skills than being meaningful guides to what the org is actually trying to acocmplish

Question 7

Real Goals

Answer 7

Goals an organization actually pursues

Question 8

Note: Page 207, Exhibit 8-1 is useful

Answer 8

N/A

Question 9

Types of Plans

Answer 9

Strategic or Operational (Breadth), Long or Short term (Time Frame), Directional or Specific (Specificity), Single Use or Standing (Frequency of Use)

Question 10

Strategic Plans

Answer 10

Plans that apply to the entire org and establish the org’s overall goals (broad)

Question 11

Operational Plans

Answer 11

Plans that encompass a particular operational area of the org (narrow)

Question 12

Long-term Plans

Answer 12

Those with a time frame beyond 3 years

Question 13

Short-term Plans

Answer 13

Cover one year or less

Question 14

Any time period in between Long-term and Short-term are ___

Answer 14

Intermediate Plans

Question 15

Intuitvely, it would seem that ____ plans would be preferable to ____ plans. However, when uncertainty is high and managers must be flexible in order to respond to unexpected changes, ____ plans are preferable

Answer 15

specific, directional, directional

Question 16

Specific Plans

Answer 16

Clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation. States objectives in a way that eliminates ambiguity and problems with misunderstanding

Question 17

Directional Plans

Answer 17

Flexible plans that set out general guidelines. They provide focus but don’t lock managers into specific goals or courses of action

Question 18

Single-use plan

Answer 18

one-time plan specifically designed to meet the needs of a unique situation

Question 19

Standing plans

Answer 19

Ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities performed repeatedly.

Question 20

Standing plans include ___, ___, and ___

Answer 20

policies, rules, and procedures

Question 21

Approaches to Setting Goals

Answer 21

Traditional goal setting, Means-ends Chain, Mgmt by objectives (MBO)

Question 22

Traditional goal setting

Answer 22

Goals set by top managers flow down through the org and become subgoals for each organizational area

Question 23

Traditional goal setting assumes that managers ___

Answer 23

know what’s best because they see the “big picture”

Question 24

Another problem with traditional goal setting is that when top managers define the org’s goals in broad terms, these ambiguous goals have to be made more specific as they flow down through the org and managers at each level

Answer 24

define the goals and apply their own interpratations and biases as they make them more specific. What often happens is that clarity is lost as the goals make their way down from the top of the org to lower levels

Question 25

Note: Page 209, Exhibit 8-2 is useful. “The Downside of Traditional Goal Setting”

Answer 25

N/A

Question 26

Means-ends chain.

Answer 26

An integrated network of goals formed when the hierarchy of organizational goals /is/ clearly defined. Higher-level goals (ends) are linked to lower-level goals, which serve as the means for their accomplishment.

Question 27

In a means-ends chain, the goals achieved at ____ become the ____ to reach the goals (ends) at the next level. And the _______ at that level becomes the ____ to achieve the goals (ends) at the next level and on ________

Answer 27

lower levels, means, accomplishment of goals, means, up through the different organizational levels

Question 28

MBO

Answer 28

A process of setting mutually agreed-upon goals and using those goals to evaluate employee performance.

Question 29

In MBO, the manager would ___ of his team and ___ and ___whether progress was being made toward achieving those goals

Answer 29

sit down with each member, set goals, periodically review

Question 30

Characteristics of Well-written Goals

Answer 30

Written in terms of outcomes rather than actions, Measurable and quantifiable, Clear as to a time fram, Challenging yet attainable, Written down, Communicated to all necessary organizational members

Question 31

Steps in Goals Setting

Answer 31

1. Review the organization’s mission, or purpose; 2. Evaluate available resources, 3. Determine the goals indivudally or with input from others, 4. Write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know, 5. Review results and whether goals are being met.

Question 32

3 Contingency Factors in Planning

Answer 32

Organizational Level, Degree of Environmental Uncertainty, Length of Future Commitments

Question 33

Organizational Level: Lower-level managers do ______ planning while upper-level managers do ______ planning. Note: Page 211, Exhibit 8-5 is useful for this

Answer 33

operational, strategic

Question 34

Environmental uncertainty: When uncertainty is high, plans should be ___, but ___.

Answer 34

specific, flexible

Question 35

Length of Future Commitments: Commitment concept says that plans should extend ____

Answer 35

far enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed. (Planning for too long or too short a time period is inefficient and ineffective)

Question 36

[Approaches to Planning] In the traditional approach, planning is done entirely by ___ who often are assisted by a ___

Answer 36

top-level managers, formal planning dept.

Question 37

Formal Planning Dept.

Answer 37

A group of planning specialists whose sole responsibility is to help write the various organizational plans

Question 38

Under the approach used by a formal planning dept, plans developed by ____ flow ____, much like the traditional approach to goal-setting.

Answer 38

top-level managers, down through other organizational levels

Question 39

The approach using a Formal Planning dept. can be effective only if managers understand the importance of creating documents that organizational members ____

Answer 39

actually used.

Question 40

Environmental Scanning

Answer 40

Involves screening info to detect emerging trends

Question 41

Competitor Intelligence

Answer 41

Gathering info about competitors that allows managers to anticipate competitors’ actions, rather than merely react to them.