54) In a short essay, describe the different classifications of plans.
55) In ________, goals set by top managers flow down through the organization and become
subgoals for each organizational area.
A) management by objectives
B) management by observation
C) traditional goal setting
D) traditional planning
56) Which one of the following is an assumption associated with traditional goal setting?
A) Employees will be more motivated to try to attain goals that they helped set.
B) Clarity and specificity are preserved as the goals filter down through organizational levels.
C) Top managers know what is best because they see the “big picture.”
D) Managers and employees together develop goals.
57) Which one of the following is a problem associated with traditional goal setting?
A) Top level managers tend to define the organization’s goals in very narrow terms.
B) Transition of strategic goals into departmental, team, and individual goals is difficult.
C) It can result in the formation of a means-ends chain.
D) Goals set are invariably easily accomplished.
58) A problem associated with traditional goal setting is that ________.
A) the narrowly defined goals inhibit a manager’s ability to interpret them
B) the high degree of reliance on employees for developing goals is not suited to many situations
C) clarity is lost as the goals make their way down from the top of the organization to lower
levels
D) it promotes the growth of a flatter organizational structure and threatens organizational
efficiency
59) Which one of the following statements is true of traditional goal setting?
A) Traditional goal setting assumes that employees know best and employs a bottom-up
approach of setting organizational goals.
B) Evaluation of performance is carried out concurrently with the flow of goals through the
organization.
C) Goals defined narrowly by top managers need to be made more directional as they flow down
through the organization.
D) Managers at each level define goals and apply their own interpretations and biases as they
make them more specific.
60) A ________ is an integrated network of goals in which the accomplishment of goals at one
level makes possible the achievement of the goals at the next level.
A) reverse pyramid
B) means-ends chain
C) bottom-up ladder
D) process sequence
61) ________ is a process of setting mutually-agreed upon goals and using those goals to
evaluate employee performance.
A) Management by objectives
B) Management by walking around
C) Management by observation
D) Management by exception
62) Which one of the following is the first step in MBO?
A) The organization’s overall objectives and strategies are formulated.
B) Unit managers collaboratively set specific objectives for their units with their managers.
C) Action plans are specified and agreed upon by managers and employees.
D) Major objectives are allocated among divisional and departmental units.
63) Which one of the following is the last step in MBO?
A) Progress toward objectives is periodically reviewed, and feedback is provided.
B) The organization’s overall objectives and strategies are formulated.
C) Successful achievement of objectives is reinforced by performance-based rewards.
D) Action plans are implemented.
64) Bonnie is discussing with her subordinate, Julie, the types of projects Julie would like to
work on in the coming year. They are setting goals and determining what success would look
like. Bonnie and Julie are engaged in ________.
A) performance planning
B) strategic planning
C) management by observation
D) management by objectives
65) Bill has been working his plan for about three months. He is now discussing his progress
with Jim, his supervisor. If Bill and Jim are using the MBO planning process, this discussion is
called ________.
A) performance feedback
B) redirection of goals
C) advise and adjust
D) the milestone checkpoint
66) Which one of the following reflects the way goals are used in an MBO program?
A) Goals are used to prepare financial budgets for each unit.
B) Goals are used to broadly set the direction subject to encourage interpretation by individual
managers.
C) Apart from being used to ensure that employees are doing what they are supposed to be
doing, goals are used as a motivating tool for employees.
D) Goals are used to compare organizational performance year over year.
67) Which is the first step managers should follow in goal setting?
A) evaluating available resources
B) determining goals individually or with input from others
C) writing down goals and communicating them to all who need to know
D) reviewing the organization’s mission
68) A ________ is a broad statement of an organization’s purpose that provides an overall guide
to what organizational members think is important.
A) mission
B) vision
C) project
D) preamble
69) Well-written goals are ________.
A) written in terms of actions rather than outcomes
B) just out of reach
C) easily achieved
D) clear as to a time frame
70) An organization is in the process of goal setting. It has finished reviewing the organization’s
mission. What should it do next?
A) determine the goals individually or with input from others
B) write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know
C) evaluate available resources
D) review results and whether goals are being met
71) Which one of the following is the last step in goal setting?
A) review the organization’s mission or purpose
B) determine the goals individually or with input from others
C) write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know
D) review results and whether goals are being met
72) When uncertainty is high, plans should be ________ and ________.
A) specific; flexible
B) directional; standing
C) short-term; directional
D) general; informal
73) The commitment concept says that plans should ________.
A) extend far enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed
B) be done for as long a time period as possible
C) be done for as short a time period as possible
D) not commit to specifically meeting the goals made when the plans were developed
74) Top executives are mainly involved in ________ planning.
A) functional
B) operational
C) strategic
D) departmental
75) ________ planning dominates managers’ planning efforts at lower levels of the organization.
A) Strategic
B) Organization-wide
C) Operational
D) Directional
76) Which one of the following is true of the traditional approach to planning?
A) Plans are developed by organizational members at the various levels.
B) This approach makes managerial planning thorough, systematic, and coordinated.
C) Plans created through this method are seldom written down.
D) Formal planning departments are rarely used in this approach.
77) When is the traditional top-down approach to planning most likely to be effective?
A) when lower level employees develop plans
B) when the plans focus on developing a large number of plans and carefully documenting them
C) when the management avoids the use of a formal planning department
D) when plans are developed that can actually be used by organizational members
78) When lower-level managers and employees are involved in the planning process, ________.
A) the documents they create are rarely reviewed
B) the plans take on a life of their own
C) their job satisfaction increases but productivity suffers
D) they see the plans as more than just something written down on paper
79) In traditional goal setting, goals set by top managers flow down through the organization and
become subgoals for each organizational area.
80) In the management by objectives (MBO) process of goal setting, goals are ambiguous, giving
managers and employees more flexibility to respond to changing conditions.
81) The first step in goal setting is to evaluate available resources.
82) The commitment concept says that plans should extend far enough to meet those
commitments made when the plans were developed.
83) When organizational members are more actively involved in planning, the probability that
the plan will be used increases.
84) In a short essay, define management by objectives (MBO) and list four elements of this type
of goal setting.
85) In a short essay, list and discuss six characteristics of well-designed goals.
86) In a short essay, discuss the three planning contingency factors that influence the choice of
plans and illustrate how these factors influence planning.
87) How can managers effectively plan when the external environment is continually changing?
A) They should discontinue formal planning.
B) They should set general, but rigid plans.
C) They should be ready to change directions if environmental conditions warrant.
D) They should continue to follow the set organizational plans as persistence will eventually pay.
88) Which one of the following statements is true of planning in dynamic environments?
A) Organizations should follow a pyramidal structure when operating in uncertain environments.
B) Organizations must discontinue formal planning in such a scenario.
C) To be useful in a dynamic environment, plans need to be specific and unchanging.
D) Flatter organizational hierarchies are necessary for planning in uncertain environments.
89) A manager’s analysis of the external environment can be improved by ________, which
involves screening information to detect emerging trends.
A) environmental scanning
B) environmental activism
C) critical path analysis
D) social screening
90) ________ refers to gathering information about competitors that allows managers to
anticipate competitors’ actions rather than merely react to them.
A) Due diligence
B) Competitor intelligence
C) Data aggregation
D) Value analysis
91) Which one of the following statements is true of competitive intelligence as a means of
environmental scanning?
A) The Competitive Espionage Act makes it a crime in the United States to engage in
competitive intelligence.
B) It is unethical to use competitive intelligence to make strategic business decisions.
C) Competitive intelligence is ethical if competitor-related information is collected from sources
accessible and available to the public.
D) Buying competitors’ products and asking their own employees to evaluate them to learn about
new technical innovations is an example of the unethical practices followed in competitive
intelligence.
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92) ________ involves the theft of proprietary materials or trade secrets by any means.
A) Corporate espionage
B) Business intelligence
C) Data mining
D) Data aggregation
Answer: A
Diff: 2
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Learning Obj: LO 8.4: Discuss contemporary issues in planning
Classification: Concept
93) The ________ Act makes it a crime in the United States to engage in theft of a trade secret.
A) Sarbanes-Oxley
B) Patriot
C) Economic Espionage
D) Industrial Espionage
94) Which one of the following would be a legal and ethical source of business intelligence?
A) competitors’ financial data
B) information provided by a former employee
C) memos found in a business’s trash
D) posts on social media
95) Software and other ________ can help managers to make sense of ________.
A) technology; qualitative information
B) interactive dashboards; internal reports
C) planning approaches; strategic plans
D) digital tools; big data
96) Darby is a member of a global team of engineers who are required to coordinate their design
efforts. Emailing files to each other doesn’t work well, as several versions may be circulating
simultaneously. Darby and his team could benefit from ________.
A) Google Analytics
B) cloud computing
C) frequent face-to-face meetings
D) the use of social media
97) Future factories may have equipment that sends data about itself to the ________ so
managers can receive updates even when they are away from the equipment.
A) Internet of the Future
B) security monitoring company
C) Internet of Things
D) Internet of Data
98) In an uncertain environment, managers should develop plans that are specific, but flexible.
99) Dynamic environments require a flatter organizational hierarchy in order to plan effectively.
100) Environmental scanning involves monitoring the firm’s pollution emissions.
101) Much competitor intelligence is available from public sources, but it is illegal to use it to
gain a competitive advantage.
102) Business intelligence is the same thing as competitor intelligence
103) There is a fine line between what is legal and ethical and what is legal but unethical.
104) Qualitative data includes information about the number and cost of warranty work.
105) Cloud computing allows managers to store data in a secret part of their computers that is
hack-proof.
106) The Internet of Things allows production equipment to communicate with other machines
and make adjustments as necessary.
107) In a short essay, describe how managers can effectively plan when the external environment
is continually changing.
108) What is competitor intelligence? Identify some of the sources of competitor intelligence.
Discuss the legal and ethical issues related to this concept.