Exam 1 Study Guide
Ch. 1-4
Chapter 1
• Management
-The pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively by (2) integrating the work of
people through (3) planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the organization’s
resources.
• Efficiency—the means.
-Efficiency is the means of attaining the organization’s goals. To be efficient means to use
resources—people, money, raw materials, and the like—wisely and cost-effectively.
• Effectiveness—the ends.
-Effectiveness regards the organization’s ends, the goals. To be effective means to achieve
results, to make the right decisions, and to successfully carry them out so that they achieve
the organization’s goals.
• Multiplier effect
-Your influence on the organization is multiplied far beyond the results that can be achieved
by just one person acting alone.
-Thus, while a solo operator such as a salesperson might accomplish many things and
incidentally make a very good living, his or her boss could accomplish a great deal more.
• Four Management Functions
1. Planning is defined as setting goals and deciding how to achieve them.
2. Organizing is defined as arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the
work
3. Leading is defined as motivating, directing, and otherwise influencing people to work
hard to achieve the organization’s goals.
4. Controlling is defined as monitoring performance, comparing it with goals, and taking
corrective action as needed.
• Seven Challenges to Being an Exceptional Manager
1) Competitive advantage is the ability of an organization to produce goods or services more
effectively than competitors do, thereby outperforming them. This means an organization
must stay ahead in four areas:
(1) being responsive to customers
(2) innovation
(3) quality
(4) efficiency
2). Managing for Information Technology
-electronic commerce: the buying and selling of goods or services over the computer.
-e-business, using the Internet to facilitate every aspect of running a business.
2) Managing for Diversity
3) Managing for Globalization—The Expanding Management Universe
-Verbal expressions and gestures don’t have the same meaning to everyone throughout
the world.
-Not understanding such differences can affect how well organizations manage globally.
The world is flat
4) Managing for Ethical Standards
-Exp) What do you do when, as a manager for a cruise line, say, you learn that an
important safety measure will have to be skipped if a 4,200-passenger cruise ship is to
sail on time?
5) Managing for Sustainability—The Business of Green
-Sustainability is defined as economic development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
6) Managing for Happiness and Meaningfulness
-Happiness is getting what you want, of having your desires fulfilled.
-Meaningfulness—which may not always make you happy—is achieving a valued sense
of one’s self and one’s purpose within the larger context of life and community.
• Four Levels of Management
Top Managers: Determining Overall Direction
-Make long-term decisions about the overall direction of the organization and establish the
objectives, policies, and strategies for it.
-They need to pay a lot of attention to the environment outside the organization, being alert for
long-run opportunities and problems and devising strategies for dealing with them.
-Executives at this level must be future oriented, dealing with uncertain, highly competitive
conditions.
Middle Managers: Implementing Policies and Plans
–Middle managers implement the policies and plans of the top managers above them and
supervise and coordinate the activities of the first-line managers below them.
-Titles might include “plant manager,” “district manager,” and “regional manager,”
First-Line Managers: Directing Daily Tasks
-First-line managers make short-term operating decisions, directing the daily tasks
of nonmanagerial personnel,
– “department head,” “foreman” or “forewoman,” or “supervisor”—clerical supervisor,
production supervisor, research supervisor, and so on.
Team Leaders: Facilitating Team Activities
-Manager who is responsible for facilitating team activities toward achieving key results.
-Team leaders may not have authority over other team members, but they are expected to
provide guidance, instruction, and direction to the others; to coordinate team efforts; to
resolve conflicts; to represent the team to the first-level manager; and to make decisions in the
absence of consensus.
• Functional Managers
–A functional manager is responsible for just one organizational activity.
–If your title is Vice President of Production, Director of Finance, or Administrator for Human
Resources, you are a functional manager.
• General Managers
–A general manager is responsible for several organizational activities.
–If you are working in a small organization of, say, 100 people and your title is Executive Vice
President, you are probably a general manager over several departments, such as Production
and Finance and Human Resources.
• Three Types of Organizations: Profit/NFP/Mutual Benefit
For-Profit Organizations: For Making Money
-For-profit, or business, organizations are formed to make money, or profits, by offering
products or services.
-When most people think of “management,” they think of business organizations, ranging from
Allstate to Zynga, from Amway to Zagat.
Nonprofit Organizations: For Offering Services
-Managers in nonprofit organizations are often known as “administrators.”
-Nonprofit organizations may be either in the public sector, such as the University of California,
or in the private sector, such as Stanford University.
-Either way, their purpose is to offer services to some clients, not to make a profit.
–Exp) Hospitals, colleges, and social-welfare agencies (the Salvation Army, the Red Cross).
-One nonprofit organization is called the commonweal organization. Unlike nonprofit service
organizations, which offer services to some clients, commonweal organizations offer services
to all clients within their jurisdictions.
–Exp) Military services, the U.S. Postal Service, and your local fire and police departments.
Mutual-Benefit Organizations: For Aiding Members
-Mutual-benefit organizations are voluntary collections of members
-Exp) Political parties, farm cooperatives, labor unions, trade associations, and clubs—whose
purpose is to advance members’ interests.
• Crucial Management Skills
Technical Skills—The Ability to Perform a Specific Job
–Consist of the job-specific knowledge needed to perform well in a specialized field.
-Having the requisite technical skills seems to be most important at the lower levels of
management—that is, among employees in their first professional job and first-line managers.
Conceptual Skills—The Ability to Think Analytically
-Conceptual skills consist of the ability to think analytically, to visualize an organization and
understand how the parts work together.
-Conceptual skills are more important as you move up the management ladder, particularly for
top managers, who must deal with problems that are ambiguous but that could have far-
reaching consequences.
Human Skills— “Soft Skills,”
–The Ability to Interact Well with People
-This may well be the most difficult set of skills to master.
-Human skills consist of the ability to work well in cooperation with other people to get things
done—especially with people in teams.
• Soft skills
-The ability to motivate, to inspire trust, to communicate with others
• Three Types of Managerial Roles: Interpersonal, Informational, and Decisional
1. Interpersonal Roles—Figurehead, Leader, and Liaison
–In their interpersonal roles, managers interact with people inside and outside their work units.
-The three interpersonal roles include figurehead, leader, and liaison activities.
2. Informational Roles—Monitor, Disseminator, and Spokesperson
-The most important part of a manager’s job is information handling, because accurate
information is vital for making intelligent decisions.
–In their three informational roles—as monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson—managers
receive and communicate information with other people inside and outside the organization.
3. Decisional Roles—Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, and Negotiator
–In their decisional roles, managers use information to make decisions to solve problems or take
advantage of opportunities.
