b.
controller
c.
spokesperson
d.
entrepreneur
e.
interpersonal
51. Connie O’Day is a middle-level manager for the publishers of Free Spirit magazine, a publication
targeted to women who are not focused on finding a husband or maintaining a house and garden. She
spends much of her day conducting interviews with groups of women to determine what they consider
most important in their lives. She also keeps an eye on the sales and content of other women’s
magazines. Which informational role does O’Day perform?
a.
entrepreneur
b.
monitor
c.
resource allocator
d.
spokesperson
e.
liaison
52. The informational role managers’ play when they share information they have collected with their
subordinates and others in the company is called the ____ role.
a.
monitor
b.
figurehead
c.
resource allocator
d.
entrepreneur
e.
disseminator
53. In Great Britain, Nestlé introduced a candy bar called Yorkie with the slogan “It’s not for girls!” The
resulting furor over this sexist campaign required its British managers to spend a great deal of time in
the role of:
a.
resource allocators
b.
entrepreneurs
c.
disturbance handlers
d.
liaisons
e.
disseminators
54. According to Mintzberg, which role would a manager assume if she were trying to convince union
members to accept a 25-cent-per-hour reduction in pay in order to keep the manufacturing plant open?
a.
resource allocator
b.
entrepreneur
c.
disturbance handler
d.
liaison
e.
negotiator
55. An accountant with ____ has the ability to create a budget, compare the budget to the actual income
statement, and determine unnecessary expenses.
a.
technical skill
b.
human skill
c.
conceptual skill
d.
motivational skill
e.
interpersonal skill
56. Which type of skills tends to be most important to the success of lower-level managers?
a.
decisional skills
b.
human skills
c.
conceptual skills
d.
motivation to manage
e.
technical skills
57. Creating a competitive advantage through people relies heavily on the use of which skill to reward
people for providing exceptional customer service?
a.
motivation to manage
b.
conceptual
c.
technical
d.
interpersonal
e.
decisional
58. What type of skills tends to be equally important at all levels of management?
a.
technical skills
b.
human skills
c.
decisional skills
d.
motivation to manage
e.
conceptual skills
59. The ability to perform ____ increases in its importance to success as managers’ rise through the
managerial ranks.
a.
interpersonal skills
b.
human skills
c.
conceptual skills
d.
informational skills
e.
technical skills
60. Which skills increase in their importance to success as managers’ rise through the managerial ranks?
a.
human skills and decisional skills
b.
informational skills and the motivation to manage
c.
conceptual skills and the motivation to manage
d.
conceptual skills, technical skills, and human skills
e.
human skills and informational skills
61. There have been several studies of managers who fail (derailers) and managers who succeed in
climbing the organizational hierarchy (arrivers). Which of the following statements describes one of
the facts learned from these studies?
a.
Arrivers differ significantly from derailers.
b.
Arrivers have no weaknesses.
c.
Arrivers and derailers both possess two or more fatal flaws regarding how they managed
people.
d.
The number one mistake of derailers was that they were unable to think strategically.
e.
Arrivers are sensitive to the feelings of others.
62. There have been several studies of managers who fail (derailers) and managers who succeed in
climbing the organizational hierarchy (arrivers). Which of the following statements describes a
significant fact learned from these studies?
a.
Derailers are insensitive.
b.
Arrivers fail to inform others when things will not be done on time.
c.
Arrivers fail to admit mistakes.
d.
Arrivers fail to take responsibility for mistakes.
e.
There are several significant differences between arrivers and derailers.
63. As the shift supervisor at a car wash, Jacob is bossy, arrogant, and insensitive to the needs of his
subordinates. He is unable to delegate any tasks to the other employees. He will more than likely never
be a middle or top manager because he:
a.
is a management laggard
b.
is a derailer
c.
does not understand the importance of synergy
d.
is not a hands-on doer
e.
is a non-arriver
64. After six months as a manager, new managers typically believe their job is:
a.
to provide negative reinforcement
b.
to exercise formal authority
c.
to maintain control and avoid delegation
d.
operational development
e.
to solve problems for subordinates
65. After their first year of managerial experience, managers tend to:
a.
exercise more formal authority
b.
do less listening and more telling
c.
view themselves as the boss
d.
use more positive reinforcement
e.
do all of these
66. After a year as a manager, new managers typically realize their job is:
a.
to be a troubleshooter
b.
to manage tasks
c.
just as they expected
d.
people management
e.
to be a problem-solver
67. Which of the following management practices can be used by an organization that wants to create a
competitive advantage through its employees?
a.
self-managed teams
b.
employment security
c.
high wages contingent on organizational performance
d.
sharing information
e.
all of these
68. Leon Dodd is a member of a self-managed team at Standard Aero Alliance, Inc. (SAAI). His team’s
top priorities are understanding customer requirements and expectations. It would appear that SAAI is:
a.
using employee benchmarking
b.
allowing its employees to assume various decisional roles
c.
letting its teams handle all planning functions
d.
using its employees to create a competitive advantage
e.
relying more on conceptual skills than human skills
69. Wainscott Finch, a Fortune 500 management consulting firm, conducts Project Management
Preparatory Academies for its clients in which participants spend 70 hours learning how to create a
differential competitive advantage through their employees. Why?
a.
The maintenance of employee relations is the latest trend in business.
b.
Satisfied employees yield satisfied customers.
c.
The participants’ companies do not have a competitive advantage.
d.
Employees need only job security to be satisfied in their work.
e.
Environmental monitoring has detected a general trend toward organizational
dissatisfaction.
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme is a relatively small doughnut seller. It has only 793 stores while Dunkin Donuts has
7015 outlets in the United States. In spite of its size, The company originated in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, where it still operates a plant that fills a 50-pound bag with doughnut mix every seven
seconds. It recently opened a new plant in Effingham, Illinois, that fills a bag every three seconds. This
second plant allows the company to reduce costs while increasing its output. The company began in
the mid-1930s when Vernon Rudolph bought a secret recipe for yeast doughnuts from a French pastry
cook. Rudolph ran the company until his death in 1973.
70. Refer to Krispy Kreme. The building of the Effingham plant increased the ____ of the Krispy Kreme
operation.
a.
effectiveness
b.
synergy
c.
advocacy
d.
efficiency
e.
empathy
71. Refer to Krispy Kreme. Which management function had Rudolph not performed at the time of his
death?
a.
planning
b.
marketing
c.
controlling
d.
leading
e.
organizing
72. Refer to Krispy Kreme. As the CEO of Krispy Kreme, Rudolph would have been responsible for:
a.
developing employees’ commitment to the company
b.
creating a positive organizational culture
c.
monitoring the business environment
d.
creating a context for change
e.
doing all of these things
73. Refer to Krispy Kreme. To be successful, managers need four skills. The fact that Rudolph was a
skilled baker when he purchased the secret doughnut recipe indicates he had ____ skills.
a.
technical
b.
interpersonal
c.
conceptual
d.
human
e.
motivational
Amazon.com
From the start, Amazon.com has been in a hurry to be a success. According to company founder and
chief executive officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos, “Our initial strategy was very focused and very
unidimensional. It was GBF: Get big fast. We put that on our shirts at the company picnic.”
With billions to spend from its initial stock offering (Amazon’s stock quickly rose to over $100
per share), Amazon spent $400 million to build eight high-tech warehouses across the country. Why
spend that much for warehouses? In theory, each was capable of shipping 60 million items per year,
and Amazon needed to control the entire buying transaction, beginning with online ordering,
proceeding to quick warehouse handling and boxing, and ending with timely shipping and delivery.
And, believing that their growth would parallel its own, Amazon then spent $350 million to buy large
shares of two Internet retailers, Kozmo.com and Pets.com. Kozmo.com promised the ability to deliver
thousands of items from gourmet foods to CDs and movies to customers’ homes in 11 major cities
within one hour after an order was placed. Pets.com was supposed to grow because Americans spend
over $30 billion a year on their pets, but the pet industry was still comprised largely of small
family-owned stores and was not yet dominated by a “big box” retailer like Home Depot.
Unfortunately, Amazon grew so fast that it soon lost control of the basics. Despite the billions it
had raised, Amazon burned money so quickly that it had to issue bonds to raise another $2.2 billion to
keep the company running. Still, it had only enough business and cash to run six of those new
warehouses. Consequently, the company took a $400 million loss to close two of the warehouses and
lay off 1,500 people. Furthermore, the six remaining warehouses were poorly run. Defective products
which should have been returned to manufacturers sat on the shelves wasting space. Mystery orders,
like a truckload of unordered kitchen knives, kept showing up. Instead of declining the deliveries,
workers put whole truckloads of unordered items on the shelves. Amazon’s frustrated chief of
operations said, “We kept it all—we just kept it. We put it on the shelf and said, ‘I don’t know.’ ” In
fact, Amazon had so much unsold inventory in its warehouses that CEO Bezos sent out an email with a
point-blank message, “Get the crap out.” Finally, Amazon’s $350 million investment in Kozmo.com
and Pets.com evaporated when both filed for bankruptcy.
Amazon’s problem was not its sales, which were growing exponentially, but poor management.
As a result, its stock, once valued at over $100 per share, dropped to a low of $6. As for profits,
founder Bezos cautioned patience, saying, “Look at USA Today; it took 11 years to become
profitable.” However, Amazon has lost over $3 billion since its inception. Although the company has
finally earned its first profits, that profit amounted to only $5 million on $1.12 billion in sales in its
fourth quarter (October to December), and Amazon still lost $45 million for the year. Furthermore, it
still has long-term debt of $2.2 billion to pay off at the rate of $120 million per year. Results like these
would have cost any other CEO his or her job. If Amazon is ultimately to survive and be profitable,
what does it need to do to become a more efficiently run company?
74. Refer to Amazon.com. CEO Jeff Bezos must wrestle with basic management issues such as how to get
more done at Amazon with a minimum of effort, expense, or waste. In other words, Bezos must make
Amazon more:
a.
effective
b.
synergistic
c.
environmentally-oriented
d.
efficient
e.
customer-oriented
75. Refer to Amazon.com. Which traditional management function will be key to make sure Amazon is
never again burdened with thousands of dollars worth of unsold inventory?
a.
organizing
b.
leading
c.
planning
d.
motivating
e.
controlling
76. Refer to Amazon.com. As CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos:
a.
is responsible for developing employees’ commitment to the company’s performance
b.
monitors and manages the performance of subunits and individual managers who report to
him
c.
is responsible for setting objectives consistent with top management’s goals
d.
teaches employees how to do their job more efficiently
e.
coordinates and links groups, departments, and divisions within a company
WWYD Netflix
CEO Reed Hastings started Netflix after paying Blockbuster $40 for a late return. Hastings and Netflix
struck back with flat monthly fees for unlimited DVDs rentals, home delivery via prepaid postage
envelopes, and, no late fees. When Blockbuster, Amazon, and Wal-Mart started their own
mail-delivery video rentals, Hastings recognized that Netflix was in competition with some of the
biggest companies. Three years later, Wal-Mart abandoned the business, Amazon quit after four years
of losses, and, 13 years after Netflix’s founding, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy.
Shipping and distributing DVDs, however, was not where Netflix wanted to succeed. The
competitive advantage was in streaming files over the Internet. U.S. copyright laws, however, require
streaming rights to be purchased from TV and movie studios before downloading content into people’s
homes. So Netflix needs to outbid its rivals for broad access to TV and movie content while
convincing studios it is not a direct competitor. These two issues are organizational goals and they
require planning to achieve them.
The first time that Netflix tried streaming video, it took 16 hours and cost $10 to download
videos. However, the company invested 1 to 2 percent of revenue every year in downloading to
“fundamentally lower” mailing costs. Because of that investment and advances in technology, it now
costs Netflix 5 cents to stream the video content of a full-length film. And Netflix can take the money
it spends on mailing costs and put nearly all of it toward buying streaming rights from the studios.
To convince the studios that it’s not a competitor depends on the strategy Netflix uses as a
streaming company: It still maintains its DVD business. By holding to a 28-day delay in streaming
content and providing high DVD sales for studios—which makes more money than theatrical
releases—Netflix can negotiate contracts with such companies as Warner Bros. to ensure profitability
for its partners and so get better rates and access to content than competitors. In the end, says chief
content officer Ted Sarandos, “We see ourselves as complementary [to the studios]. If someone loves
Weeds on Showtime, they’ll … go find the older episodes from us.”
77. Refer to WWYD Netflix. Reed Hastings is an example of a:
a.
founder-manager
b.
delegator
c.
first-line manager
d.
top manager
e.
team leader
78. Refer to WWYD Netflix. When Netflix began to invest in streaming content technology as a means of
achieving a long-term goal implicit in the company’s name, it engaged in the management function of:
a.
hiring
b.
planning
c.
leading
d.
goalkeeping
e.
innovating
79. Refer to WWYD Netflix. When investing 1 to 2 percent of revenue per year in downloading, managers
at Netflix were fulfilling which managerial role?
a.
interpersonal
b.
informational
c.
decisional
d.
planning
e.
leader
80. Refer to WWYD Netflix. The person in charge of negotiating Netflix’s DVD partnerships with movie
studios is most likely which type of manager?
a.
team leader for distribution
b.
first-line manager for the mailing operation
c.
middle manager in charge of fulfillment
d.
top manager
e.
none of the choices are likely
SHORT ANSWER
1. Define efficiency and effectiveness and explain their relationship to the process of management.
2. List and briefly define the four functions of management.
3. Identify the four different kinds of managers and list one of the basic responsibilities for each of these
different types of manager.
4. What are the four major responsibilities for the typical middle manager?
5. Specify the differences in the timeframes involved in planning done by top, middle, and first-line
managers.
6. Among the four kinds of management jobs, list the one that is the most recent addition to organizations
and describe the basic responsibilities of that management job.
7. List and briefly describe the three basic managerial roles identified by Mintzberg. Include a list of the
basic sub-roles that characterize each of these roles in your definition.
8. List and briefly describe the four kinds of skills that companies look for in managers.
9. Within the four sets of skills that companies look for in managers, specify those that tend to be more
important or more prevalent in higher-level than lower-level managers.
10. Identify three of the five most significant mistakes made by managers.
11. Briefly explain how and why companies can create competitive advantage through people.
1. Top managers are responsible for (1) creating a context for change, (2) developing attitudes of
commitment and ownership, (3) creating a positive organizational culture through words and actions,
and (4) monitoring their company’s business environment. Of these four dimensions, which ones do
you think can also be significantly impacted by the day-to-day actions of middle managers, first-line
managers, and team leaders? Explain the rationale for your answer.
2. Compare and contrast the managerial roles of liaison, spokesperson, and negotiator. Explain both the
similarities that link these roles behaviorally and the differences Mintzberg draws between them.
ANS:
3. Compare and contrast the relative importance of the four characteristics that companies look for in
managers as they rise through the management hierarchy. That is, describe the similarities and
differences in these characteristics among lower, middle, and upper-level managers and explain the
reasons for the differences.
ANS:
4. Describe the transition to management during the first year. Explain how this illustrates the chapter’s
emphasis on human skills as being more important than technical skills for success or failure in
management.
ANS:
