Strat Mgmt Final

Question 1

Principal managerial components of the strategy execution process

Answer 1

Building an organization with competencies, capabilities & resource strengths

Instituting policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution

Adopt best practices and push continue value chain improvement

Use rewards and incentives

Question 2

Most important consideration in putting together a strong top management team

Answer 2

Fill key managerial slots with smart people who are:
Clear thinkers
Good at figuring out what needs to be done
Skilled in making it happen

Question 3

4 Practices that companies use to staff jobs with the best people they can find

Answer 3

Screening and evaluation job applicants
Rotating people through jobs
Encouraging employees to challenge existing ways of doing things
Make work environment stimulating

Question 4

Capability building process

Answer 4

Develop ability to do something

Translate this ability into a tried-and true competence and capability, perform activity consistantly

Question 5

Advantages of outsourcing value chain activities

Answer 5

Less internal bureaucracy
Speedier decision making
quicker responses to changing market conditions

Question 6

Chief advantages of centralized organizational structure include

Answer 6

Accountability

Reucing the potential for conflicting decisions and actions among lower level managers

Question 6

Useful guideline in designing policies and procedures to assist good strategy execution is to

Answer 6

Prescribe enough policies to give organizational members clear direction and to place desirable boundaries on their actions, then empower them to act within these boundaries

Question 7

A chief purpose of benchmarking is to

Answer 7

look outward to find a best practice for performing an activity and then develop the date for measuring how well a company’s own performance of that activity stacks up against the best-practice standard.

Question 8

4 step Best practices process

Answer 8

Identify best practices
Adapt practices to fit company
Continue to benchmark performance of activity
Move closer to excellence

Question 9

Reengineering how a firm performs a business process

Answer 9

redesigning and streamlining the workflow and various work steps in performing a particular business activity with the goal of achieving quantum gains in performance of the activity.

Question 10

What is TQM

Answer 10

Managing set of business practices that emphasizes continuous improvement in all phases of operation
100% accuracy in performing task
Involvement and empowerment of all employees
Team-based work design
Benchmarking
Total customer satisfaction

Question 11

What can Six Sigma processes and techniques be used for

Answer 11

Improving existing business processes

Developing new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels.

Question 12

From a strategy-execution perspective, the role of a company’s system of incentives and rewards is to

Answer 12

enlist strong employees commitment to diligent, competent strategy execution and operating excellence.

Question 13

The character of a company’s culture or work climate is shaped by

Answer 13

screening and selecting new employees to fit
indoctrination of new members of company culture
efforts of senior managers to reiterate core values
peer pressure
telling stories
highlighting employees
honoring members

Question 14

Company culture can be perpetrated by

Answer 14

systematic indoctrination of new members in the culture’s fundamentals and strong peer pressure from co-workers to conform to expected norms.

Question 15

Company’s culture is typically grounded in and shaped by

Answer 15

Its core values and the bar it sets for ethical standards

Question 16

Subcultures

Answer 16

Multiple cultures that exist or vary at a department, geographic, division or unit level
Larger organizations tend to have subcultures
problem is that they can clash
key feature when looking into acquiring additional organizations

Question 17

The hallmark of a strong-culture company is

Answer 17

The dominating presence of certain deeply rooted values and operating approached that regulate the conduct of a company’s business and the climate of its workplace

Question 18

Weak-culture companies

Answer 18

Lack values and principles that are shared
No reinforcement of certain behaviors
No employee allegiance

Question 19

High performance cultures

Answer 19

Can-do spirit
pride in doing things right
no excuses accountability
results-oriented work climate

Question 20

Disadvantages of decntralized structure featuring employee empowerment is:

Answer 20

Top management lacks full control
Organization at risk if employees make bad decision
Can impair cross-unit collaboration

Question 21

Advantages of decentralized decision making

Answer 21

Decision making in the hands of those closest to the situation
Draw on combined intellectual capital
Encourages Initiative

Question 22

Three stage process to develop and strengthen core competencies and competitive capabilities

Answer 22

Develop ability to do something
Ability to be consistent at acceptable costs
become better than rivals at performing activity

Question 23

5 decisions in promoting a successful strategy exectution

Answer 23

Which value chain activities to perform internally and which to outsource
Make internally performed strategy critical activities the main building blocks in the organization structure
How much authority to centralize at top
Provide for cross-unit coordination
Provide for necessary collaboration with suppliers and strategic allies

Question 24

What types of organization structures are primary organizational building blocks?

Answer 24

Traditional departments
Process departments
Geographic organizational units
Divisional Units

Question 25

Building organizational bridges with stratetic partners and external allies is aided by

Answer 25

Appointing relationship managers with responsibility for getting the right people together
Promoting good rapport and information sharing

Question 26

The three components of building a capable organization are

Answer 26

Staffing and organization
Building core compettencies and competitive capabilities
Structuring the organization and work effor

Question 27

What are Best Practices?

Answer 27

Is a technique in which at least one company has proved works well
Lowering costs
Improving quality or performance
Shortening time requirements
Enhancing safety

Question 28

SIngle Most powerful tool management has to win strong employee commitment

Answer 28

Incentives

Question 29

Most important motivational approaches to make their workplace more appealing and spur stronger employee commitment to the strategy execution process

Answer 29

Attractive Financial compensation
Attractive perks and fringe benefits
Making liberal use of non-monetary carrot and stick incentives
Having knockout facilities
Relying on promotion whenever possible

Question 30

Purpose of using benchmarking, best practices, reengineering, tqm and six sigma programs is to:

Answer 30

to promote better strategy execution

Question 31

TQM emphasizes

Answer 31

Continuous improvement in all phases of operations
100% accuracy
Employee empowerment
Total Customer Satisfaction

Question 31

It is in managment’s best interest to establish a corporate culture that

Answer 31

encourages behaviors and work practices conducive to good strategy execution and that marshals organizational energy behind the drive for good strategy execution

Question 32

4 Steps in changing a problem culture

Answer 32

Identify facets of present culture that are dysfunctional
pose obstacles to executing new strategic initiatives
show why and how new behaviors and operating approaches will improve company performance

Question 33

Most important tasks of leading the drive for a good strategy execution

Answer 33

Staying on top of how well things are going
putting constructive pressure on organization
pushing corrective actions

Question 34

Characteristics of Change-Resistant Cultures

Answer 34

Avoid risks
Not making bold proposals
a lax approach to product innovation
We’ve done it that way for years approach

Question 35

In strong culture companies executives

Answer 35

walk the talk and insist that company values and business principles be reflected in the decisions and actions taken by all company personnel

Question 36

Corporate culture definition

Answer 36

Cultural traits that are a byproduct of company’s internal climate and personalities
Varies greatly from business to business

Question 37

Two roles of core values and ethical principals

Answer 37

Fosters work environment where personnel share common beliefs about business conduct
Provide personnel with guidance about manner in which they should do their job

Question 38

Six Sigma programs are based on three priciples:

Answer 38

All work is process
All processes have variability
all processes create data that explains variability

Question 39

From a strategy-implementing/strategy executing perspective, the resources allocated to each organizational unit should:

Answer 39

Be strategy driven and based on how much each organizational unit needs to carry out its piece of the strategic plan efficiently and effectively

Question 40

Important purpose of managing by walking around is to

Answer 40

Gather information and opinions