The Manager’s Job
Getting the most output from the least input
What is efficiency?
A choice among two or more alternatives.
What is a decision?
The shared values, principles, and traditions that shape how members of an organization behave.
What is organizational culture?
The principles, values, and beliefs that define right and wrong conduct.
What is ethics?
The number of employees a manager can effectively supervise.
What is span of control?
A store manager splits the team across register, stocking, and online orders, and spells out who is responsible for what.
What is organizing?
A store handles a routine return by following its written return policy.
What is a programmed decision?
Two teammates share the same major and hometown but differ in their work pace, willingness to take risks, and preference for structure. These differences in personality and work preferences illustrate..
What is deep-level diversity?
A store follows the same written procedure every time a customer asks for a refund.
What is a standing plan?
A tour company serves only college athletes and designs every trip around their training schedules. Targeting this narrow customer segment illustrates this competitive strategy.
What is a focus strategy?
A hotel chain times how long it takes to clean a room, picks the fastest sequence, and trains every housekeeper on it.
What is scientific management?
A manager hires the first candidate who clears every must-have on the list, because the role has been open for 3 months.
This decision-making concept is..
What is satisficing?
A new employee hears a story about a coworker who was praised for admitting a costly mistake. Identify what is being communicated and the method used to communicate it.
What is organizational culture transmitted through stories?
A team sets a realistic, relevant goal to cut average response time from four hours to two but gives no deadline. This SMART goal element is missing.
What is time-bound?
A game studio brings artists, coders, and testers together on project teams, keeps roles flexible, and lets team leads make decisions without upper-management approval. These features describe this type of organizational structure.
What is an organic structure?
A manager compares actual customer wait times with the five-minute target, takes corrective action when waits are too long, and checks whether performance improves. This process illustrates this management function.
What is controlling?
One manager sees a single viral video of a package theft and assumes theft is the biggest source of loss. Another keeps funding a failing app because the company already spent $80,000.
Name both errors.
What are availability bias and the sunk cost error?
A company gives one employee screen-reader software so she can complete the same training as everyone else. A classmate calls it unfair special treatment. Name the concept
What is equity?
A retailer changes its packaging only after customers threaten to stop buying its products, even though no law requires the change. This approach to social issues reflects reacting to external pressure.
What is social responsiveness?
A coffee chain offers half-price drinks for one week but still has higher production costs per cup than its competitors. Lower prices alone do not establish this competitive strategy.
What is cost leadership?
A hospital requires an identical handwashing protocol in every unit but lets each unit set its own meeting format. A student calls this inconsistent management.
Which management approach does this illustrate
What is the contingency approach?
A club president favors one venue and dismisses complaints about it. A teammate suggests reading only more positive reviews. This bias leads them to seek information that supports what they already believe.
What is confirmation bias?
A restaurant's sales collapse and the owner fires the manager. A road closure had blocked the entrance for two months. Name the owner's view and name the opposing view
What are the omnipotent view and the symbolic view?
A sales team continues making misleading promises despite an ethics code and annual training. Employees face unrealistic sales targets and earn bonuses based only on revenue. These features of the organization influence ethical behavior.
What are structural variables?
A repair shop lets technicians buy approved parts up to $150 without asking the owner. Written rules require receipts and owner approval for larger purchases. This combines decision-making authority at lower levels with standardized procedures. Name both structural concepts.
What are decentralization and formalization?