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Business > Unit 10 > Flashcards

Unit 10 Flashcards

1
Q

Reasons for change

A

External-pestle
Internal-performance-good=expand, poor=retrench
leadership-may change organisational culture or structure

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2
Q

Disruptive change+example

A

Forces firms to suddenly do things a different way, characterised by a shift in the underlying forces of an industry. e.g internet

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3
Q

Lewin’s force field analysis cons (3)

A

Identifies and evaluates driving/restraining forces of change. Ranks in importance.

  • requires full participation to provide accurate info to be realistic
  • may not cause a consensus. May cause a divide between people who oppose/support
  • effectiveness depends on skill level of group who are doing it, there may be gaps in information etc
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4
Q

Drawbacks of change (4)

A

Cost
Time
Loss of focus-managers lose focus on core activities
Resistance (K&S)

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5
Q

Kotter & Schlesinger reasons for resistance (4)

A

Different assessments-understand reasons but disagree/have a better plan
Fear+misunderstanding-do not trust motives
Prefer things as they are-don’t like change
Self interest-worse off if change occurred..?

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6
Q

Kotter & Schlesinger overcoming resistance (6)

A
  1. Education+communication
  2. Participation+involvement
  3. Facilitation+support
  4. Negotiation+agreement
  5. Manipulation+co-optation
  6. Explicit/Implicit coercion
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7
Q

Manipulation+co-optation

A

Giving desirable role in change. For appearance, rather than contribution. Cheap and quick if other strategies are unsuitable/fail, but Unethical, can lose trust if seen as manipulator.

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8
Q

Explicit/Implicit coercion

A

Forcing employees-by risk of job loss, transfer or derived promotion. Fast but hurts trust etc. Risky as people resent being forced

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9
Q

Hofstede’s national culture (6 dimensions)

A 
Power distance
Individualism v Collectivism
Masculinity v Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long term Orientation
Indulgence v Restraint
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10
Q

Handy’s Organisational Culture (4)

A

Role-clearly delegated authority
Task-teams formed to solve tasks
People-people are superior
Power-centralised, fast d-m

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11
Q

Power culture pros cons (1,2)

A

+Centralised (quicker, expertise, overview)

  • Struggle when growing to keep decisions making central (react slowly compared to comp)
  • Employees resistant, don’t have a say

Good in Greiners creativity phase

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12
Q

Role culture pros cons (1,3)

A

+Clearly delegated roles of authority.

  • Employees not involved and not used to doing things differently so resist
  • Slow communication as more levels
  • Silo mentality-don’t help other departments

Good in stable environment, or a country with high UAI

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13
Q

Person culture pros cons (1,1)

A

Objectives defined by personal ambitions.
+joint decisions, so employees are likely to be comfortable (no resist)
-decision making be hard to make due to self interest.

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14
Q

Task culture (2,3)

A

Focus on tasks in teams.
+respond well to objectives
+change is normal, as teams change (less resistance)
-conflict between teams for resource/budget
-confusing if too many products/projects
-training costs

Good for strategic drift as flexible.

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15
Q

Value of change (5)

A 
Maintain CA
Adapt to external environment
Grow and compete more effectively
Improve efficiency and productivity
Improve HR relations
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16
Q

Flexible organisations

A

Respond quickly to external changes. Workplace is flexible

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17
Q

Knowledge and information management (KIM) and benefit and example

A

Organising, storing, sharing info so everyone can benefit from its use.

Allows more flexibility as info more accessible, easily respond to change or make decisions

Staff share lessons learnt to avoid same problems in future

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18
Q

Ways to be more flexible (7)

A 
Part time
Job sharing
Flexitime
Compressed hours
Annual hours
Telecommuting 
Zero hour contracts
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19
Q

Strategic drift

A

Strategy becomes less suited to environment making it no longer fit for purpose

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20
Q

Difficulties when strategic decision making (internal and external)

A

Pestle
Unforeseen circumstances
Competitors actions

Poor leadership
Poor allocation of resources
Resistance

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21
Q

Planned strategy vs Emergent strategy +example

A

Emergent strategy develops overtime

e.g viagra was intended to be for medical use

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22
Q

Pros cons of planned strategy (2,3)

A 
Clear sense of direction
Easily communicated
Lacks flexibility
Costly+Long
Can be too detailed/unreasonable
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23
Q

Pros cons of emergent strategy (3,4)

A

+quick, cheap
+flexible, can respond to changes, use hunch, more creative and innovative (Avoid strategic drift)
+based on decisions of junior management, more up to date

  • can cause mistrust due to changes
  • unclear end goal (not motivating)
  • can be hard for large companies as needs coordination (better for flat structures)
  • ill prepared in terms of resources/time
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24
Q

Education + communication (K&S)

A

+shows need for change

  • requires good relationship
  • time and effort (short run?)
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25
Q

Participation and involvement (2,2)

A

+good when initiators don’t have all info
+reduces resistance
-can lead to poor solution if not managed well.
-time consuming

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26
Q

Facilitation & support

A

Expensive time consuming

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27
Q

Negotiation & agreement

A

+simple

-expensive e.g wage rises

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28
Q

critical path analysis

A

Identify the most efficient way of completing a project

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29
Q

Why CPA is needed

A

Projects are complex, high risk and sig investment or have narrow deadlines needed to be met

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30
Q

Info required for CPA (3)

A

List of activities
Duration
Dependencies between activities

31
Q

CPA calculates

A 
Critical path (longest path of activities to complete project)
EST and LFT that each activity can start and finish without slowing down the project
Float activities and critical activities
32
Q

Float time formula

A

LFT-EST-Duration

33
Q

Uses of CPA (2)

A

Minimise project time e.g shorten critical path by allocating resources from float activities or outsource
Prioritise tasks
Use JIT-improve CF

34
Q

Disadvantages of CPA (3)

A

Time consuming
Estimates
Doesn’t show if project is good, or the costs of project so needs to be used alongside other tools
Obsession with critical path-shortcuts-quality issues

35
Q

Organisational culture

A

The ways things are done, and expected to be done.

36
Q

Strong culture and advantages

A

Strong-employees agree with values of company.
+require less supervision
+loyal (turnover low)
+motivation

37
Q

Weak culture

A

Employees are forced to comply with values of business.

38
Q

Define strategy

A

Plan for achieving corporate objectives

39
Q

Examples of strategic planning tools (5)

A 
Market mapping
Stakeholder mapping
Pestle
Swot
STP
PFF
40
Q

What does implementing strategy require? (3)

A

Leadership
Communication
Organisational structure

41
Q

Benefits of strategic planning

A

Clear direction, communicated easily
Way of measuring performance
Efficient use of resources
More effective decision making

42
Q

Drawbacks of strategic planning

A

Analysis may be inaccurate

Inflexible-employees may stick to plan as they think they have to

43
Q

Corporate governance and why it’s needed

A

The system by which companies are directed and controlled. Needed due to the divorce of ownership and control

44
Q

Responsibilities of directors in corporate governance

A

Set objectives
Lead
Manage risk (contingency plan)
Report to shareholders

45
Q

Contingency planning and 3 reaons for it

A

Preparing for unexpected events-reduce panic, reduce impact, protect brand

46
Q

Evaluation of contingency planning

A

Expensive, so not worthwhile to prepare for every possible thing that can go wrong

If not carried out, forced to make quick decisions.
Needs strong leadership to react and limit damage caused

Employees need to be trained to the contingency plan for it to work

47
Q

Organic structure (3)

A

Informal
Flexible
More adapted to change (decentralised)

48
Q

Mechanistic (3)

A

Formal+bureaucratic
Centralised
No perceived need to change, so greater resistance.

49
Q

Power distance

A

Extent to which power and wealth is distributed and tolerated. High-accept hierachy without argument

50
Q

Uncertainty avoidance

A

High-avoid risk taking to minimise uncertainty

51
Q

Individualism v Collectivism

A

Extent to which people are expected to look after themselves rather than support each other. Personal achievements

52
Q

Masculinity v Femininity

A

Masculine-highly competitive, focus on power and money

Femininity-focus on caring and quality of life

53
Q

Long term orientation

A

High-society looks to future and accepts new ideas

Low-follows tradition

54
Q

Indulgence v Restraint

A

Indulgent-allow people to satisfy desires

Restraint-regulate desires

55
Q

4 types of organisational structure to implement strategy effectively

A

Functional
Product-based
Regional
Matrix

56
Q

Functional organisational structures and how it’s good, and cons (1,1)

A

Organises staff by department.
+Each function works in area of expertise, so implementing strategy is easier.

-Each department can have own culture and priorities, can be hard to co-ordinate strategy across departments, poor communication

57
Q

Product-based structures and pros and cons (1,1)

A

Organises staff by product, ran like a separate business

+good for implementing certain strategies for only one product
-duplication of roles-more efficient to have just one (rationalise)

58
Q

Regional structure and when it’s used

A

Organise staff geographically, decentralised control to adapt locally to market demands

Used following a market development strategy where busines is expanding geographically

59
Q

Matrix structures

A

Organise staff by a combination of factors e.g project and function, so they will report to their function manager and project manager e.g Operations manager and project B manager.

60
Q

Pros cons of matrix structure

A

+ensures staff pursue clearly defined objectives
+encourages departments to build relationships

-conflict between project and department managers on how strategy should be implemented

61
Q

Restructuring

A

Changing organisational structure of business

62
Q

Main reason for restructuring

A

Maximise efficiency of decision making, communication and division of tasks.

63
Q

How would a business in a fast changing environment restructure?

A

Decentralise to give more power and flexibility

64
Q

How would a business restructure in a recession/hardship

A

Centralise to make quick decisions

65
Q

What structure should a business use to be flexible and adapt to change?

A

Organic-less formal, decentralised, can adapt well to change

66
Q

Benefits of flexible working (3)

A

Cost-less fixed costs+recruitment and training
Higher job satisfaction and moral for workers as can work flexibly
Larger pool of applicants

67
Q

Drawback of flexible working (4)

A

Hard to manage-poor communication and teamwork as work at different times

Hard to manage change too

Loss of capacity if key employees reduce hours

Potentially less motivated from remote working e.g isolation, distraction at home

68
Q

Strategic drift phases

A

Incremental change
Strategic drift
Flux
Transformational change

69
Q

Incremental change & Strategic drift phases

A

Step changes by managers to fit in with external change

Rate of external change increases, managers continue step change but gap increases

70
Q

Flux stage

A

Recognise issue, uncertain how to fix, competitive advantage lost, fallen behind trends

71
Q

Transformational change

A

Either make a big change to keep up with external environment or face demise e.g Nokia, Kodak, Blockbusyer

72
Q

Example of transformational change

A

Netflix was a DVD service, made a big change to streaming to fit external environment

73
Q

How to avoid principle agent problem from corporate governance?

A

Financial incentives to align managers strategy to shareholders. e.g bonuses on share price or profits (Apple forced managers to hold shares for 5 years)

Transparency of information (public financial statements)

74
Q

Where is contingency planning used most

A

In unpredictable industries e.g travel, airlines e.g strikes, terrorist threats, oil price rises (volatile)

Business (19 decks)

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