Management Midterm Study Guide
Intro to Management Midterm Topics of Emphasis Management, Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations by Plunkett, Allen and Attner Management (Pg4) One or more managers individually and collectively setting and achieving goals by exercising related function (planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling) and coordinating various resources (information, materials, money, and people). Organization (Pg5) An entity managed by one or more persons to achieve stated goals.
Diversity (Pg12) Includes people from differing age groups, genders, ethnic and racial backgrounds, cultural and national orgins, and mental and physical capabilities. Ethics (Pg11) The branch of philosophy concerned with what constitutes right and wrong human conduct, including values and actions, in a given set of circumstances.
Top Management (Pg21) Plan for the entire organization and the acquisition of needed resources. They develop the organizations values, purpose, long term goals and partnership with outsiders. Planning (Pg19-20) Often called the first function because it lays the groundwork for all other functions.
Five Primary Management Functions (Pg19-20) Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, and Controlling Organizing (Pg20) Creates a structure to facilitate the accomplishments of all goals and all the management positions that support it. Human Skills (Pg26) The abilities to interact and communicate successfully with other persons.
Conceptual Skills (Pg27) The mental capacity to conceive and manipulate ideas and abstract relationships. Technical Skills (Pg26) The abilities to use the processes, practices, techniques and tools of the specialty area a manager supervises.
Classical Management Theory (Pg37) A theory that focused in finding the “one best way” to perform and manage tasks. Frederick Taylor (Pg38) Sometimes called the father of scientific management applied scientific methods to factory problems and urged the proper use of human labor, tools and time. Classical Administrative School (Pg40) The administrative branch emphasized efficiency and productivity in running factories and businesses.
It provided the theoretical basis for all mangers, no matter their area of expertise.
Behavioral School (Pg43) Recognized employees as individuals with concrete, human needs, as parts of work groups, and as a member of a larger society. Environmental Scanning (Pg64) The process of collecting information about the external environment to identify and analyze trends. Core Competencies (Pg66) What an organization knows and does best. Organizational Culture (Pg69) Dynamic System of shared values, beliefs, philosophies, experiences, customs and norms of behavior that gives an organization its distinctive culture.
Mission Statement (Pg88) A formalized written mission to communicated to all organizational members.
Strategic Planning (Pg93) Contains the answers to who, what, when, where, where, how, and how much for achieving strategic goals; long term, company-wide goals established by top management. Tactical Planning (Pg94) Developed by middle managers; this plan has more details, shorter time frames and narrower scopes than a strategic plan; it usually spans one year or less. Quality Function Deployment (Pg129) QFD is a disciplined approach to solving quality problems before the design phase of a product. Benchmark (Pg131) The product to meet or beat in terms of design, manufacture, performance, and service.
TQM (Total Quality Management) (Pg132) A strategy to continuously improving performance at every level and in all areas of responsibility.
W. Edwards Deming (Pg132-133) Creator of Total Quality Management. Decision (Pg160) A choice made from available alternatives. Opportunities (Pg160) Chances, occasions, events or breakthroughs that require a decision to be made. Programmed Decisions (Pg164) Decisions that involve problems or situations that have occurred often enough that both the circumstances and solutions are predictable; made in response to recurring organizational problems.
Non-Programmed Decisions (Pg165) Decisions made in response to problems and opportunities that have unique circumstances, unpredictable results, and important consequences for the company. Steps in the Decision Making Process (Pg165-170) Seven Steps: Defining the problem or opportunity, Identifying limiting factors, Developing potential alternatives, Analyzing the alternatives, Selecting the best alternative, Implementing the decision, and Establishing a control and evaluation system. Unity of Direction Principle (Pg199) The establishment of one authority figure for each designated task of the organization.
Methods of Departmentalization (Function, Geography, Product, Customer) Chain of Command (Pg200) The unbroken line of reporting relationships form the bottom to the top of the organization. Staff Authority (Pg209) The authority to serve in an advisory capacity; it flows upward to the decision maker.
Accountability (Pg214) The need to answer to someone for your actions; it means accepting the consequences-either credit or blame- of these actions. Responsibility (Pg214) The obligation to carry one’s assigned duties to the best of ones ability.
Mechanistic Structure (Pg236) A tight organizational structure characterized by rigidly defined tasks, formalization, many rules and regulations, and centralized decision making. Organic Structure (Pg237) A flexible, free flowing organizational structure that has few rules and regulations and decentralizes decision making right down to the employees performing the job. The Social System (Pg254) Contributes norms and value to organizational culture, including the set of employee relationships that relate to a power affiliation and trust.
It also includes the grapevine and the informal organizations, thus helping render it one of the most important factors of organizational culture.
Because people are the organization, their relationships are crucial to defining what the organizations look like. Slogans (Pg256) A phrase or saying that clearly expresses a key organizational value. It should not be confused with a company’s advertising campaign, unless the slogan is genuinely backed by the actions of the company and becomes a company value.
