Principles of Management

Chapter 1

100

The planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of human and other resources to achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively is known as management.

True

200

Organizations are efficient when managers maximize the amount of input resources.

False; Feedback: Efficiency is a measure of how productively resources are used to achieve a goal. Organizations are efficient when managers minimize the amount of input resources or the amount of time needed to produce a given output of goods or services.

300

An organization’s vision is a short, succinct, and inspiring statement of what the organization intends to become and the goals it is seeking to achieve.

True. Feedback: An organization’s vision is a short, succinct, and inspiring statement of what the organization intends to become and the goals it is seeking to achieve—its desired future state. In leading, managers articulate a clear organizational vision for the organization’s members to accomplish, and they energize and enable employees so everyone understands the part he/she plays in achieving organizational goals.

400

The middle managers supervise the supervisors.

True. Feedback: The first-line managers are often called supervisors. Supervising the first-line managers are middle managers, responsible for finding the best way to organize human and other resources to achieve organizational goals.

500

The array of technical skills managers need is independent of the position they hold in their organizations.

False Feedback: Managers need a range of technical skills to be effective. The array of technical skills managers need depends on their position in their organizations.

Chapter 2

100

The effectiveness of managers is determined by a complex interaction between the characteristics of managers and the nature of the job and organization in which they are working

True Feedback: No single trait is right or wrong for being an effective manager. Rather, effectiveness is determined by a complex interaction between the characteristics of managers and the nature of the job and organization in which they are working. Moreover, personality traits that enhance managerial effectiveness in one situation may impair it in another.

200

People who are less inclined toward social interactions and to have a less positive outlook are known to be: A) optimistic. B) dominant. C) introverts. D) agreeable. E) extraverts. nd to have a less positive outlook are known to be:

c Feedback: Extraversion is the tendency to experience positive emotions and moods and feel good about oneself and the rest of the world. Managers who are high on extraversion (often called extraverts) tend to be sociable, affectionate, outgoing, and friendly. Managers who are low on extraversion (often called introverts) tend to be less inclined toward social interactions and to have a less positive outlook.

300

Studies conducted over time have suggested that critical thinking is promoted by negative moods.

True Feedback: Research suggests that when people are in negative moods, they tend to be more detail-oriented and focused on the facts at hand. Some studies suggest that critical thinking and devil’s advocacy may be promoted by a negative mood, and sometimes especially accurate judgments may be made by managers in negative moods.

400

Rites of integration help build common norms and values.

True Feedback: Rites of passage help in learning and internalizing norms and values. Rites of integration help in building common norms and values. Rites of enhancement help in motivating commitment to norms and values.

500

In an innovative culture, managers are likely to lead by example, encouraging employees to take risks and experiment.

True Feedback: In an innovative culture, managers are likely to lead by example, encouraging employees to take risks and experiment. They are supportive regardless of whether employees succeed or fail.

Chapter 3

100

Customers are stakeholders of an organization, but managers are not.

False Feedback: Stakeholders can directly benefit or be harmed by its actions, the ethics of a company and its managers are important to them. It is important to examine the claims of these stakeholders—stockholders; managers; employees; suppliers and distributors; customers; and community, society, and nation-state.

200

All stakeholders benefit in the long run from companies making the right choices.

True Feedback: When making business decisions, managers must consider the claims of all stakeholders. To help themselves and employees make ethical decisions and behave in ways that benefit their stakeholders; managers can use four ethical rules to analyze the effects of their business decisions on stakeholders: the utilitarian, moral rights, justice, and practical rules. These are useful guidelines that help managers decide on the appropriate way to behave in situations where it is necessary to balance a company’s self-interest and the interests of its stakeholders. If all companies make the right choices, all stakeholders will benefit in the long run.

300

“An ethical decision is one that a typical person in a society would think is acceptable” is a statement that reflects the justice rule

False Feedback: The practical rule is that an ethical decision is one that a manager has no hesitation or reluctance about communicating to people outside the company because the typical person in a society would think it is acceptable.

400

Ethics officers are also known as ethics ombudsmen.

True Feedback: An ethics ombudsman is an ethics officer who monitors an organization’s practices and procedures to be sure they are ethical.

500

Managers can promote the effective management of diversity through the performance of interpersonal and decisional roles, but not through informational roles.

False Feedback: Managers can promote the effective management of diversity through the performance of interpersonal roles, decisional roles, and informational roles.

Chapter 4

100

The suppliers, distributors, and the wide-ranging demographic, political, and legal forces that affect the organization’s ability to obtain inputs and to sell outputs are known as the general environment.

False Feedback: The task environment is the set of forces and conditions that originate with global suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors; these forces and conditions affect an organization’s ability to obtain inputs and dispose of its outputs.

200

An organization’s “competitors” are those organizations that try to sell their goods to the same customers to whom the organization is trying to sell its goods.

True Feedback: Competitors are organizations that produce goods and services that are similar and comparable to a particular organization’s goods and services. In other words, competitors are organizations trying to attract the same customers.

300

Poor economic conditions make environments more complex, and managers’ jobs become more difficult and demanding.

True Feedback: Poor economic conditions make the environment more complex and managers’ jobs more difficult and demanding. Companies often need to reduce the number of their managers and employees, streamline their operations, and identify ways to acquire and use resources more efficiently and effectively.

400

People who are high on extraversion are especially likely to experience positive moods.

True Feedback: People who are high on extraversion are especially likely to experience positive moods; people who are high on negative affectivity are especially likely to experience negative moods.

500

A shift in the age distribution of the population of the United States is an example of a sociocultural force that affects organizations in the United States.

False Feedback: Demographic forces are outcomes of changes in, or changing attitudes toward, the characteristics of a population, such as age, gender, ethnic origin, race, sexual orientation, and social class. A shift in the age distribution of the population of the United States is an example of a demographic force that affects organizations in the United States.

Chapter 5

100

Decision making is programmed when managers need to repeatedly make new judgments about what should be done.

False Feedback: Decision making is programmed when managers do not need to repeatedly make new judgments about what should be done. Programmed decision making is a routine, virtually automatic process. Programmed decisions are decisions that have been made so many times in the past that managers have developed rules or guidelines to be applied when certain situations inevitably occur.

200

The likelihood of a manager making an error in judgment is much greater in programmed decision-making than in nonprogrammed decision-making.

False Feedback: The likelihood of error is much greater in nonprogrammed decision making than in programmed decision making.

300

When managers know the possible outcomes of a decision and can assign probabilities to each of these outcomes in terms of their likelihood of occurrence, a situation of risk occurs

True Feedback: Risk is present when managers know the possible outcomes of a particular course of action and can assign probabilities to them.

400

With regard to the decision-making process, in order to ensure that a decision is implemented, top managers must assign to middle managers the responsibility for making the follow-up decisions necessary to achieve the goal; this is a procedure related to learning from feedback.

False Feedback: To ensure that a decision is implemented, top managers must assign to middle managers the responsibility for making the follow-up decisions necessary to achieve the goal; this is a procedure related to implementing the chosen alternative.

500

Groupthink is an advantage for groups.

False Feedback: Groupthink is a pattern of faulty and biased decision making that occurs in groups whose members strive for agreement among themselves at the expense of accurately assessing information relevant to a decision. Hence it is not an advantage for groups.