QUESTION When employee morale is important to an organization’s management, managers face the challenge of how to quantify something so subjective. How could this be done? What will be an ideal response? ANSWER Answer: Morale can be quantified to a certain extent through measurable objective data such as absenteeism and number of sick days […]
QUESTION Part of the control process is to measure performance. What are the three sources for doing this? What will be an ideal response? ANSWER Answer: written reports, oral reports, and personal observations by the manager (such as those obtained through MBWA—management by walking around) Explanation: Written and oral reports can come from a […]
QUESTION After measuring performance against control standards, there are three courses of action. Which action is appropriate under what circumstances? What will be an ideal response? ANSWER Answer: If results are adequate, but not outstanding, no action is necessary. If results are very positive, perhaps a celebration is in order. If results are negative, […]
QUESTION Consider this statement: As the importance of a decision increases, the amount of necessary fact gathering increases. Past a certain point, however, additional fact gathering is not wise. Which of the following sentences is most strongly supported by this statement? A) When more is at stake, the consequences of making a mistake are greater. […]
QUESTION The product director and the executive are most likely to disagree about which of the following questions? A) Does the manager need to have any technical skills? B) In choosing the best manager for the Prensabi project, are conceptual skills more important than human skills? C) Would it be a mistake to choose the […]
QUESTION Which of the following, if true, weakens the product director’s argument? A) The project manager with the weakest technical skills also has the weakest human skills. B) The Prensabi project is so large that the project manager for the Prensabi project will be unable to take on any other projects until the Prensabi project […]
QUESTION Which of the following employs reasoning that is most similar to the reasoning employed by the product director? A) “The product requirements for the online collaboration tool are well-understood now, but they may change as the project develops. Since we cannot tell what will be required, we must choose a manager whose skills are […]
QUESTION Which of the following, if true, supports the conclusion that disbanding the centralized planning unit helped Disney perform strongly? A) The centralized planning unit used a decision procedure that required business units to answer the same fundamental questions each year. B) In the entertainment industry, companies can be profitable if just a few of […]
QUESTION A strategic manager at Disney believes that the video-on-demand unit should be sold because the return it has made on Disney’s investment has been below Disney’s standards. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the strategic manager’s conclusion? A) Other units at Disney have earned even lower returns on investment than the video-on-demand […]
QUESTION Contingency plans are by their nature often ambiguous. Why? What will be an ideal response? ANSWER Answer: Contingency plans prepare for unexpected circumstances or emergencies. As the circumstances, situation, timing, and events are unknown, it would be difficult to specify the organization’s actions in response to them. Explanation: Contingency plans are necessary for […]
