81.
Why is advancing IT considered a threat?
A.
There is an overabundance of information that increases the likelihood that important
information is ignored or overlooked.
B.
Sophisticated software and networks are being continuously developed and each
outdating their respective previous versions.
C.
All words, numbers, images, and sound are expressed in zeroes and ones that run to
over a trillion instructions being processed per second.
D.
Traditional companies not using Internet, broadband, and wireless technology are
losing their competitive advantage.
While many companies have benefited from advancing IT, others have been threatened.
Traditional landline telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and other long-distance
companies the world over have seen their market dominance threatened by companies
offering Internet, broadband, and wireless technology.
AACSB: Technology
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-03 Define information richness, and describe the information richness of communication media
available to managers.
Topic: Technology
82.
When does the maturity stage begin in the product life cycle?
A.
When market demand peaks because most customers have already bought the product
B.
When the product has yet to gain widespread acceptance in the target market
C.
D.
When many customers buy a product for the first time, increasing the demand rapidly
The growth stage ends and the maturity stage begins when market demand peaks
because most customers have already bought the product (there are relatively few first–
time buyers left). At this stage, demand is typically replacement demand.
AACSB: Technology
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Learning Objective: 13-03 Define information richness, and describe the information richness of communication media
available to managers.
Topic: Technology
83.
What happens when manufacturers start producing products that make the old ones
obsolete?
A.
Demand for the older product declines.
B.
There are more first-time buyers in the market.
C.
Customers are unsure what the old product has to offer.
D.
There is minimal demand for the product.
Once a demand for a product starts to fall, the decline stage begins. This typically occurs
when advancing technology leads to the development of a more advanced product, making
the old one obsolete.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-03 Define information richness, and describe the information richness of communication media
available to managers.
Topic: Technology
84.
Which of the following systems is most focused on programmed decision making?
A.
Transaction-processing system
B.
Decision support systems
C.
E-commerce systems
D.
Enterprise resource planning systems
A transaction-processing system is a system designed to handle large volumes of routine,
recurring transactions. More generally, most managers in large organizations use a
transaction-processing system to handle tasks such as payroll preparation and payment,
customer billing, and payment of suppliers.
AACSB: Technology
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Technology
85.
A multimode application software package that allows a company to link and coordinate
the entire set of functional activities and operations necessary to move products from the
initial design stage to the final customer stage is called a(n) ________.
A.
e-commerce system
B.
business-to-customer commerce
C.
enterprise resource planning system
D.
artificial intelligence
Blooms: Analyze
Difficulty: 3 Hard
Learning Objective: 13-01 Differentiate between data and information, list the attributes of useful information, and
describe three reasons why managers must have access to information to perform their tasks and roles effectively.
Topic: Communication
87.
Discuss the four factors that determine how useful information is to a manager.
The four factors that determine the usefulness of information to a manager are quality,
timeliness, completeness, and relevance.
• Quality: Accuracy and reliability determine the quality of information. The greater its
accuracy and reliability, the higher is the quality of information.
• Timeliness: Information that is timely is available when it is required to allow managers
to make the optimal decision—not after the decision has been made.
• Completeness: Information that is complete gives managers all the information they
need to exercise control, achieve coordination, or make an effective decision.
• Relevance: Information that is relevant is useful and suits a manager’s particular needs
and circumstances. Irrelevant information is useless and may actually hurt the
performance of a busy manager who has to spend valuable time determining whether
information is relevant.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Understand
88.
Controlling is the process whereby managers regulate how efficiently and effectively an
organization and its members are performing the activities necessary to achieve
organizational goals. What are the steps managers take in order to achieve control over
organizational activities?
Managers achieve control over organizational activities by taking four steps:
• They establish measurable standards of performance or goals.
• They measure actual performance.
• They compare actual performance against established goals.
• They evaluate the result and take corrective action if necessary.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-01 Differentiate between data and information, list the attributes of useful information, and
describe three reasons why managers must have access to information to perform their tasks and roles effectively.
Topic: Communication
89.
Explain the importance of good communication in order for an organization to gain a
competitive advantage.
In order for an organization to gain a competitive advantage, managers must strive to
increase efficiency, quality, responsiveness to customers, and innovation. Good
communication is essential for attaining each of these four goals and thus is a necessity
for gaining a competitive advantage.
• Managers can increase efficiency by updating the production process to take advantage
of new and more efficient technologies and by training workers to operate the new
technologies and expand their skills.
• Similarly, improving quality hinges on effective communication. Managers need to
communicate to all members of an organization the meaning and importance of high
quality and the routes to attaining it.
• Good communication can also help to increase responsiveness to customers. When the
organizational members who are closest to customers are empowered to communicate
customers’ needs and desires to managers, managers are better able to respond to these
needs.
• Innovation, which often takes place in cross-functional teams, also requires effective
90.
Briefly explain the role of nonverbal communication in the communication process.
Nonverbal communication shares information by means of facial expressions, body
language, and even style of dress. It can be used to back up or reinforce verbal
communication. The congruence between verbal and nonverbal communication helps to
ensure that a common understanding is reached. Sometimes when members of an
organization decide not to express a message verbally, they inadvertently do so
nonverbally. In certain cases, nonverbal communication is used to send messages that
cannot be sent through verbal channels.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-02 Explain why effective communication helps an organization gain a competitive advantage, and
describe the communication process.
Topic: Communication
91.
Communication can have positive and negative effects on an organization. Discuss the
disadvantages of ineffective communication on an organization.
Since managers must communicate with others to perform their various roles and tasks,
managers spend most of their time communicating, whether in meetings, in telephone
conversations, through e-mail, or in face-to-face interactions. Effective communication is
so important that managers cannot just be concerned that they themselves are effective
communicators; they also have to help their subordinates be effective communicators.
When managers and other members of an organization are ineffective communicators,
organizational performance suffers, and any competitive advantage the organization might
have is likely to be lost. Moreover, poor communication sometimes can be downright
dangerous and even lead to tragic and unnecessary loss of human life.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-02 Explain why effective communication helps an organization gain a competitive advantage, and
describe the communication process.
Topic: Communication
92.
What are the three factors that managers need to consider when choosing a
communication medium for a message?
There is no one best communication medium for managers to rely on. In choosing a
communication medium for any message, managers need to consider three factors.
• The first and most important is the level of information richness that is needed.
Information richness is the amount of information a communication medium can carry and
the extent to which the medium enables the sender and receiver to reach a common
understanding.
• The second factor that managers need to take into account in selecting a communication
medium is the time needed for communication, because managers’ and other
organizational members’ time is valuable.
• The third factor that affects the choice of a communication medium is the need for a
paper or electronic trail or some kind of written documentation that a message was sent
and received.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Communication
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-03 Define information richness, and describe the information richness of communication media
available to managers.
Topic: Information Richness
93.
Discuss the advantages of face–to-face communication. Is it always the best medium of
communication?
Face-to-face communication is the medium that is highest in information richness.
When managers communicate face–to-face, they not only can take advantage of verbal
communication but they also can interpret each other’s nonverbal signals such as facial
expressions and body language. Face-to-face communication also enables managers to
receive instant feedback. Points of confusion, ambiguity, or misunderstanding can be
resolved, and managers can cycle through the communication process as many times as
they need to, to reach a common understanding. Management by wandering around is a
face-to-face communication technique that is effective for many managers at all levels in
an organization.
Because face-to-face communication is highest in information richness, it can be
assumed that it should always be the medium of choice for managers. This is not the case,
however, because of the amount of time it takes and the lack of a paper or electronic trail
resulting from it. For messages that are important, personal, or likely to be misunderstood,
it is often well worth managers’ time to use face–to-face communication and, if need be,
supplement it with some form of written communication documenting the message.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
94.
What are some of the forms of e-mail abuse? What can managers do to avoid this?
The growing use of e-mail has been accompanied by growing abuse of e-mail, which can
take the form of sexually harassing coworkers through e–mail, and divorcing spouses who
work together sometimes sign their spouse’s name to e-mail and send insulting or
derogatory messages to the spouse’s boss. Top managers also complain that sometimes
their e-mail is clogged with junk mail.
To avoid these and other costly forms of e-mail abuse, managers need to develop a clear
policy specifying what company e-mail can and should be used for and what is out of
bounds. Managers also should clearly communicate this policy to all members of an
organization, as well as the procedures that will be used when e-mail abuse is suspected
and the consequences that will result when e-mail abuse is confirmed.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Communication
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-03 Define information richness, and describe the information richness of communication media
available to managers.
Topic: Information Richness
95.
Distinguish between transaction-processing systems and operations information
systems.
A transaction-processing system is a system designed to handle large volumes of routine,
recurring transactions. They were the first type of computer-based management
information system adopted by many organizations, and today they are commonplace.
An operations information system is a system that gathers comprehensive data, organizes
them, and summarizes them in a form that is of value to managers. Whereas a
transaction-processing system processes routine transactions, an operations information
system provides managers with information that they can use in their nonroutine
coordinating, controlling, and decision-making tasks. Most operations information systems
are coupled with a transaction-processing system. An operations information system
typically accesses data gathered by a transaction–processing system, processes those
data into useful information, and organizes that information into a form accessible to
managers.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Management Information Systems (MIS)
96.
Discuss the meaning of a “decision support system.”
A decision support system is an interactive computer-based management information
system that managers can use to make nonroutine decisions. A decision support system
gives managers a model-building capability and so provides them with the ability to
manipulate information in a variety of ways. Managers might use a decision support
system to help them decide whether to cut prices for a product. The decision support
system might contain models of how customers and competitors would respond to a price
cut. Managers could run these models and use the results as an aid to decision making. A
decision support system is not meant to make decisions for managers. Rather, its function
is to provide valuable information that managers can use to improve the quality of their
decision making.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Management Information Systems (MIS)
97.
Write a note on expert systems and artificial intelligence.
Expert systems are the most advanced management information systems available. An
expert system is a system that employs human knowledge captured in a computer to solve
problems that ordinarily require human expertise. Expert systems are a variant of artificial
intelligence. Mimicking human expertise (and intelligence) requires a computer that can at
a minimum (1) recognize, formulate, and solve a problem; (2) explain the solution; and (3)
learn from experience. Recent developments in artificial intelligence that go by names
such as “fuzzy logic” and “neural networks” have resulted in computer programs that, in a
primitive way, try to mimic human thought processes. Although artificial intelligence is still
at a fairly early stage of development, an increasing number of business applications are
beginning to emerge in the form of expert systems.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Management Information Systems (MIS)
98.
Describe the limitations of information systems.
Despite their usefulness, information systems have some limitations. In all of the
enthusiasm for management information systems, electronic communication by means of
a computer network, and the like, a vital human element of communication may be lost.
Some kinds of information cannot be aggregated and summarized on a management
information systems (MIS) report because of issues surrounding information richness.
Very rich information is often required to coordinate and control an enterprise and to make
informed decisions, far beyond that which can be quantified and aggregated. The
importance of information richness is a strong argument in favor of using electronic
communication to support face–to-face communication, not to replace it.
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Technology
99.
Describe how networks enhance computing power.
The typical organization-wide computing network that has emerged over time is a four-tier
network solution that consists of “external” mobile computing devices such as netbooks,
smartphones, and tablet computers connected to desktops and laptops and then through
“internal” rack servers to a company’s mainframe.
The internal network is composed of “client” desktop and laptop PCs connected by
Ethernet to the company’s system of rack servers. The client computers that are linked
directly to a server constitute a local area network (LAN). The mainframe can also handle
electronic communications between servers and PCs situated in different LANs, and the
mainframe can connect to the mainframes of other companies. The mainframe is the
master computer that controls the operations of all the other types of computers and
digital devices as needed and can link them into one integrated system. It also provides
the connection to the external IT networks outside the organization.
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Management Information Systems (MIS)
100.
List the six types of computer-based management information systems and discuss their
impact on programmed versus nonprogrammed decision making.
The six types of management information systems (MIS) that have been particularly
helpful to managers as they perform their management tasks are transaction–processing
systems, operations information systems, decision support systems, expert systems,
enterprise resource planning systems, and e-commerce systems.
These MIS systems are arranged along a continuum according to the sophistication of the
IT they are based on—IT that determines their ability to give managers the information
they need to make nonprogrammed decisions.
AACSB: Technology
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 13-04 Differentiate among six kinds of management information systems.
Topic: Management Information Systems (MIS)