DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1-1 What is an organization and what characteristics do organizations share?
Answer: An organization is a systematic arrangement of people brought together to
accomplish some specific purpose. All organizations share three common characteristics: 1)
1-2 How do managers differ from nonmanagerial employees?
Answer: Nonmanagerial employees are people who work directly on a job or task and have
no responsibility for overseeing the work of others. Nonmanagerial employees may be
referred to by names such as associates, team members, contributors, or even employee
1-3 In today’s environment, which is more important to organizations—efficiency or
effectiveness? Explain your choice.
Answer: Management is the process of getting things done, effectively and efficiently,
through and with other people. Effectiveness and efficiency deal with what we are doing and
It’s easier to be effective if one ignores efficiency. Good management is attaining goals
To address the question of which is more important, it depends. Doing the right tasks may
Suppose you are the owner and manager of a CPA firm. Over the years, your organization has
If you chose to emphasize efficiency over effectiveness, what might happen? You might
create an infrastructure that, at least in the short-run, would be very efficient. Suppose you
What if you chose to emphasize effectiveness over efficiency? Suppose that it is one of your
organization’s goals to guarantee accurate preparation of income tax returns. You may decide
to send all employees to training to learn the most up-to-date advice available regarding tax
In the first example (the efficient office), everything might move quickly from start to finish
but your control system may be weak. When customers begin to be audited by the IRS and
In the second example (the effective office), everything and everyone may be very
As an effective manager can you afford to separate effectiveness and efficiency? Probably
1-4 What similarities do you see among the four management functions?
1-5 Using any of the popular business periodicals (such as Bloomberg BusinessWeek,
Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company), find examples of managers doing each of
the four management functions. Write up a description and explain how these are
examples of that function.
Answer: Students answers will vary depending on the articles selected, but each should
include the basic functions.
Planning—encompasses defining an organization’s goals, establishing an overall
Organizing—determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks
Leading—managers motivate employees, direct the activities of others, select the
Controlling—to ensure that things are going as they should, a manager must monitor
1-6 Is your course instructor a manager? Discuss in terms of planning, organizing, leading,
and controlling. Also discuss using Mintzberg’s managerial roles approach.
Answer: A college instructor is both an individual contributor and a manager. He/she is in a
nonmanagerial role when he/she produces “the product” of the university. But he/she is also a
manager in that he/she must manage the class and students.
In terms of:
Planning—the instructor defines class goals, establishes the semester plan for
Organizing—not as much, as he/she is primarily responsible for execution but may
Leading—should be relatively obvious, motivating students, direct the activities of
For the sake of space, suggestions will be limited to Mintzberg’s three primary categories.
Interpersonal—the roles of leader and liaison.
1-7 Can business management be called a profession? Why or why not? Do some external
research in answering this question.
Answer: Student answers will vary although it could easily be determined that business
management is a profession. Efficient and effective managers are critical to the success of
1-8 Is there one best “style” of management? Why or why not?
1-9 In what ways can managers at each of the four levels of management contribute to
efficiency and effectiveness?
Answer: Top managers are usually responsible for making decisions about the direction of
MyManagementLab
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com.
Answers to these questions are graded against rubrics in the MyLab.
1-10 Do all organizations need managers? Explain.
1-11 Explain how the 4 functions approach is better than the roles approach and the skills and
competencies approach for describing what managers do.
Management Skill Builder: Becoming Politically Adept
If you want to succeed as a manager, it helps to be politically adept. Research has shown that
people differ in their political skills. Those who are politically skilled are more effective in their
use of influence tactics. Political skill also appears to be more effective when the stakes are high.
Finally, politically skilled individuals are able to exert their influence without others detecting it,
which is important in being effective so that you’re not labeled political. A person’s political skill
is determined by (1) his or her networking ability, (2) interpersonal influence, (3) social
astuteness, and (4) apparent sincerity.
Personal Inventory Assessment: Using Influence Strategies
Take a look at how well you use influence strategies. This PIA will help you determine how
skillfully you do that and what you need to work on.
Skill Basics
If students want to be more politically adept in their organizations, they should follow
these steps:
Develop your networking ability.
Work on gaining interpersonal influence.
Develop your social astuteness.
Be sincere.
Practicing the Skill
Take each of the components of political skill and spend one week working on it as you
navigate your school life and work life. Keep a brief set of notes describing your
experiences—good and bad. Were you able to begin developing a network of people you
could rely on or connect with for school or work commitments? How did you try to
become better at influencing those around you? Did you work at communicating better
or at developing a good rapport with coworkers or class project team members? Did you
work at developing your social astuteness, maybe by starting to recognize and interpret
people’s facial expressions and the meaning behind those expressions? Did you make a
conscious effort to be more sincere in your relationships with others, especially those that
are not close friends? What could you have done differently to be more politically
skilled? Once you begin to recognize what’s involved with political skills, you should
find yourself becoming more connected and better able to influence others – that is, more
politically adept.
Experiential Exercise
Heartland’s Traditional Fragrances
To: Eric Kim, Training Coordinator
From: Helen Merkin, Human Resources Director
Re: Supervisory Training and Management Certification Program
Heartland’s business is growing and you have been asked to look into two issues related to some
growing problems. One is a training program that focuses on important supervisory skills. Do
some research and put together a list of the skills you think are most important for our
supervisors to have, together with a justification for why you think these skills are important.
The second issue is how we could help our supervisors achieve certification that verifies their
skills, knowledge, and professionalism. One certification program is the Certified Professional
Manager. Please research the program and prepare a bulleted list of what it involves. Keep your
report to one page, typed.
Teaching Tip:
One place to start looking for management skills is in Exhibit 1-4. This figure lays out
the four functions of management – basic skills that are required of each manager.
Another good academic reference would be Katz’s three skills: technical skills, human
skills, and conceptual skills. For skills that are tied to specific positions, I would suggest
having students go to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site. On this Web site,
students can look at the Occupational Outlook that breaks demand and skill requirements
for each major job in the U.S. For the second part of the assignment, students should be
able to search the Internet and find a variety of certifications, some for human resources,
some for project managers, and some for IT professionals. Almost every major profession
has its own certifications and information is readily available.
Case Application 1: Who Needs a Boss?
Discussion Questions
What is a holacracy?
1-14 What benefits do you see to an organization where there are no job titles, no managers,
and no hierarchy?
1-15 What challenges does a holacratic approach have?
1-16 Discuss why you would or would not like to work in an organization like this.
Case Application 2: Building a Better Boss
Discussion Questions
1-17 Describe the findings of Project Oxygen using the functions approach, Mintzberg’s roles
approach, and the skills approach.
1-19 What’s the difference between encouraging managers to be great managers and knowing
what being a great manager involves?
1-20 What could other companies learn from Google’s experiences?
Students’ answers will vary but one of the big things other companies could learn is that
1-21 Would you want to work for a company like Google? Why or why not?
Students’ answers will vary.
Case Application 3: Saving the World
Discussion Questions
1-22 Keeping professionals excited about work that can be routine, standardized, and chaotic is
a major challenge for Symantec’s managers. How could they use technical, human, and
conceptual skills to maintain an environment that encourages innovation and
professionalism among the virus hunters?
1-23 What managerial competencies might be important for these managers and why are these
important?
1-24 What management roles would operations manager Patrick Fitzgerald be playing as he
(a) held weekly security briefing conference calls with coworkers around the globe, (b)
assessed the feasibility of adding a new network security consulting service, and (c) kept
employees focused on the company’s commitments to customers?
1-25 Go to Symantec’s Web site [www.symantec.com] and look up information about the
company. What can you tell about its emphasis on customer service and innovation? In
what ways does the organization support its employees in servicing customers and in
being innovative?
Answer: Visiting Symantec’s Web site, students can clearly see that Symantec is focused
primarily on the customer. The “Enterprise” link highlights the company’s belief in the
importance of customer service and innovation by first stating: “Customer driven is a Symantec