Test Two Flashcards
Performance threat
High turnover in the service industry
Performance opportunity
A situation that offers the chance for a better future if dealt with correctly - allow for task variety, train employees to deal with difficult customers, create a brand employees are part of
Ways of approaching problems & which is best?
Avoiding
Solving
Seeking*
Systematic thinking
A person who approached a problem in a rational, step by step fashion
Intuitive thinking
Approaches problems in a flexible and spontaneous fashion
Multidimensional thinking
An ability to address many problems at once (crucial in crisis scenarios)
Strategic opportunism
Solving short term problems consistent with long term strategy- JC Penny and Target apologizing for stuff
Sensation thinkers
Take realistic approach, deal with hard facts, impersonal - triage nurse or doctor
Intuitive thinkers
Comfortable with the abstract, take an idealistic approach, impersonal - professor
Intuitive feelers
Prefer broad issues, insightful and value human relationships - social marketers
Sensation feelers
Tend to be realistic but emphasize both analysis and human relations - attorney, social worker
Step 1 decision making process
Identifying and defining the problem
Mistake - defining too broadly or narrowly
- focusing on symptoms instead of cause
- wrong prioritizing problems
Step 2 decision making process
Generate and evaluate alternative courses, gather info
Mistakes - dangers of groupthink
Step 3 decision making process
Choose preferred course
Classical decision model
Assumes decision maker is rational, has perfect info, and makes an optimizing decision
Behavioral decision model
Questions assumption of perfect info and introduces the term bounded rationally
Step 4 decision making process
Implement decision
Mistake - lack of participation, need buy-in and support for the decision
Critical error at all stages: lack of buy-in
Step 5 decision making process
Evaluate results, do a pre and post decision assessment
Mistakes - skipping or not planning ahead for this decision
Framing error
Positive vs negative framing
90% survival rate vs 10% mortality rate
Availability Bias
Base decision on recent info or events, or allow it to influence our behavior and attitudes
Representativeness bias
Tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the extent to which it resembles the presumed typical case - HT case
Gambler’s Fallacy
The tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events
Slot machines
Anchoring and adjustment bias
Decisions are influenced by inappropriate allegiance to a starting point - relevant to negotiations
Confirmation bias
We seek out info to confirm our opinions and/or rationalize our decisions
Buyers remorse
Benefits of planning
Provides direction, reduces uncertainty, minimizes waste and redundancy, establishes goals or standards, helps organization understand what is within its control
Drawbacks of planning
It can prevent or slow down needed change, can create a false sense of certainty, detachment of planners, decreased flexibility
What makes a good goal?
Specific, timely, measurable, challenging, attainable and realistic
Feed forward control (preliminary)
Preventative in nature
Concurrent control ( steering)
Focus on what’s happening during the process
Feedback controls (post action)
After action is completed
Self control (discipline)
We do this every day
Clan control (normative)
Influence our behavior through norms and expectations set by the organizational culture
Asch line experiments
Bureaucratic control (policies, procedures, supervision)
Control that flows through the organizations hierarchy
Market control (competition)
The influence of market competition on the behavior of organizations and their members
CPM/PERT
Complex version of a Gantt chart, critical path method plus program evaluation and review technique
Break even analysis
Break even point = fixed costs / (price-variable costs)
Technological competency
Ability to understand new tech
Info competency
Ability to locate and organize info
Analytical competency
Ability to use info
Intelligence info
Gathered from stakeholders and environment
Internal Info
Flows within organization
Public info
Disseminated back to stakeholders, public, and consumers
Personal time management tips - do
- say no to requests that divert you
- screen calls and emails for meetings
- prioritize work based on importance
- follow priorities and work on most urgent task
Personal time management tips - don’t
- get bogged down on small details
- let texts or other people stopping by divert you
- become calendar bound by letting others control your schedule
Types of plans used by managers
Long range Short range Strategic Tactical Operational
Goal alignments:
- mission and purpose
- top management objective
- senior management objective
- middle management objective
- lower management objective
- serve the world as the number one supplier of recyclable food containers
- firm- deliver error free products meeting customer requirements
- manufacturing division - 100% on time
- plant- increase error free product acceptance rate
- Shift supervisor - assess machine operator skills and train for error free production
Ways organizations can gain a competitive advantage?
Tech Cost and quality Knowledge and speed Barriers to entry Financial resources
Diff between competitive adv and sustainable competitive adv?
Sustainable competitive adv is difficult and durable, or too costly for others to copy or imitate
Input vs output standard
Input is work efforts and output is quantifiable performance measures (quantity, quality, cost, or time)
Strategy
The means to achieving a sustainable competitive advantage
Strategic plan
Used to guide resource allocations for long term advancement of the organizations mission, purpose, and vision
Corporate strategy
In what industries should we compete?
Business strategy
How are we going to compete for customers in this industry and market?
Functional strategy
How can we best utilize resources within a function to implement our business strategy?
Industry attractiveness
Competition New entrants Alternatives Supplier power Customer power
Strategies for stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs?
Grow the stars
Milk the cash cows
Grow or retrench the question marks
Retrench the dogs
Growth
Vertical integration, global expansion, acquisitions, mergers, strategic alliance, co-opetition
Restructuring/retrenchment
Bankruptcy, liquidation, turnaround, divestiture, downsizing
Formal vs informal structures
The official structure of the organization and the set of unofficial relationships among an organizations members
How does structure relate to social network analysis?
Lines are drawn between people of all levels, contracts are made across all levels, informal structure and social network analysis show the real order of operations in the business
Functional structures
People with similar skills perform similar tasks, hinders communication across functions
Divisional structure
Groups people working on the same product or process, only works in complex organizations with diverse operations
Matrix structure
Better communication, more flexibility, better management, but potential for power struggles
Team structures
People who have similar goals are lumped together, more knowledge the better but it’s very complex and loyalties may conflict
Network structures
Lean and streamlined, reduced cost of overhead, helps alleviate specific business tasks but may be complex to control, if one network breaks it all breaks
Diff between organic organizations and mechanistic organizations
Decentralized, horizontal structures, fewer rules and procedures, more personal vs highly bureaucratic, vertical structures, and routine tasks
