Chapter 1 Many Managers Change Industries Throughout Their Careers

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

Answers to Questions in the Text

Chapter 1: Management and Its History

WORK APPLICATION SAMPLE ANSWERS

Most of the answers are actual student answers or based on student answers. You may give these

answers as part of your lecture before, after, or in place of getting student answers.

1–1. Describe the specific resources used by a present or past boss. Give the manager’s job title and

department.

My boss was the branch manager at Merchants Bank. The primary resource she used was the

1–2. Identify a specific manager, preferably one who is or was your boss, and explain what makes him

or her successful or unsuccessful. Give examples.

My boss owns Bill’s Homemade Ice Cream. Bill’s is only open in the summer. Bill, who is around age

1–3. Select a manager, preferably one who is or was your boss, and state the specific management

skills he or she uses on the job.

My boss, Jeff, is the manager at Jiffy Lube. Jeff needs technical skills to lube the cars because part

1–4. Identify a specific manager, preferably one who is or was your boss, and give examples of how

that person performs each of the four management functions.

My boss, Sonia, owns her own beauty salon. Sonia has to plan the work schedules for 15

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

1–5. Identify a specific manager, preferably one who is or was your boss, and give examples of how

that person performs in each of the three management role categories. Be sure to identify at least one

of the three or four roles in each category.

I worked this past summer primarily catching boxes as they came off the conveyer belt. My boss,

John, spent most of the time playing the interpersonal role of leader because the job was pretty

1–6. Identify the three levels of management in a specific organization by level and title. Be sure to

give the organization’s name.

I work part time in the office for a car dealer, Casey Dodge. There are four supervisors: office

1–7. Identify which type of boss you have now or have had previously. If that person is or was a

functional manager, be sure to specify the functional tasks of the department.

When I worked for A&P Supermarket, I worked for Karen, the produce manager. Karen is a

REVIEW QUESTION ANSWERS

1–1. What are a manager’s resources?

The manager’s resources are human, financial, physical, and informational.

1–2. What are the three management skills?

1–3. What are the four functions of management?

1–4. What are the three management role categories?

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

1–5. What are the three levels of management?

The three levels of management are top managers, middle managers, and first-line managers.

1–6. What are the three types of managers?

1–7. What are the objectives of this book?

The objectives of this book are to teach you the important concepts of management, to develop your

COMMUNICATION SKILLS ANSWERS

Applications may also be used as class discussion questions or written assignments to develop

communication skills.

1–1. Are you interested in being a manager?

1–2. Why is it important to take this course in management?

Answers will vary. Some of the reasons may include that it is important to learn about management

1–3. Is it more important for managers to be efficient or effective? Can you improve both at the same

time?

It is more important for managers to be effective than efficient because even if managers do the wrong

1–4. Is management ability universal? In other words, can a good manager in one environment (e.g.,

computers) also be effective in another (e.g., banking)?

1–5. Some people say the hard skills (technical, finance, quantitative analysis) are more important for

managers than soft skills (interpersonal), and some say the opposite is true. What is your view?

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

Although it can make a good debate, it is really hard to say whether one is really more important than

1–6. Is your college professor a manager? Why or why not?

No. College professors are not really managers, even though they do perform the four functions of

1–7. When a good employee is promoted to management, which management level is the promotion

usually to, and how do the management skills and functions change with the job promotion?

When an employee is promoted, it is usually to the first–line management position. The employee’s

1–8. When an employee is promoted to a manager, do most organizations provide some type of

training? Should they? Why or why not?

APPLYING THE CONCEPT ANSWERS

Applying the Concept 1–1: Management Skills

Identify each activity as being one of the following types of management skills:

A. technical

B. interpersonal

C. decision making

1. The manager is trying to figure out a way to solve a problem.

C. Decision-making. Part of the definition of decision-making is solving problems.

2. The manager is giving an employee praise for a job well done.

3. The manager is working on fixing a broken machine.

A. Technical. Fixing a machine takes technical skills.

4. The bank president is letting the branch managers know they exceeded the loan quota for the

month in an email.

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

5. The manager is scheduling which machines will produce each product next week

c. Decision-making. Scheduling requires the manager to make decisions.

Applying the Concept 1–2: Management Functions

Indicate which type of function the manager is performing in each situation:

A. planning

B. organizing

C. leading

D. controlling

E. nonmanagement

6. The manager is conducting an employee’s annual performance evaluation.

b. Organizing. As stated in the text, Evaluating employees is part of the staffing-organizing function.

7. The manager is checking how many new bank accounts have been produced so far today.

8. The manager is encouraging an employee to get a college degree so he can advance in the

company.

9. The manager is conducting a job interview to select a new employee for a new open position in

accounting.

b. Organizing. As stated in the text, selecting is part of staffing-organizing function.

10. The manager is emptying her trash down the hall from her office.

11. The manager is scheduling employee work hours for the next two weeks.

a. Planning. Scheduling future work hours is part of planning.

12. The manager is giving the workers a pep talk to motivate them to work hard to meet the

production quota today with an absent employee.

Applying the Concept 1–3: Management Roles

Identify each of the managerial activities as part of one of the three role categories:

A. interpersonal role

B. informational role

C. decisional role

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13. The manager shows a police officer how to complete the paperwork for an arrest.

14. The manager discusses next year’s budget.

c. Decisional role. As stated in the text, Budgeting is part of the resource allocation role

15. The CEO is cutting the ribbon at the groundbreaking for the new restaurant.

a. Interpersonal role. The manager is playing the figurehead role—ceremonial activity.

16. The manager develops a new app that will be sold as an additional source of income.

17. The manager is reading the monthly production report before beginning work.

Applying the Concept 1–4: Differences Among Management Levels

Identify the level of management in the following five instances:

A. top

B. middle

C. first-line

18. Managers who tend to spend more time planning and organizing.

A. Top. Top managers spend more time planning and organizing than do first-line or middle managers.

19. Managers who have operative employees reporting to them.

20. Managers who take the long-term strategy and develop short-term operating plans.

B. Middle. Middle managers have a more balanced need for the management skills and functions.

21. Managers who report to executives.

22. Managers who need technical skills more than decision-making skills.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION ANSWERS

Join the Discussion 1–1: Executive Compensation

In 2013, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 331:1, and the CEO-to-minimum-wage-worker pay ratio was

774:1. Oracle’s CEO made an estimated $189,000 per hour in one year. A minimum-wage full-time

Lussier, Management Fundamentals, 7e

employee at Walmart would have to work 1,372 hours to earn as much as the CEO makes in one hour.

Some say top executives are being overpaid. Fortune 500 CEOs all make millions.

However, not everyone agrees. In capitalist countries, talented CEOs, like in pro sports, are entitled to

fetch their price. Top executives should be paid multimillion-dollar compensation packages; after all, if it

weren’t for effective CEOs, companies would not be making the millions of dollars of profits they make

each year. CEOs deserve a piece of the pie they help create.

1. Do executives deserve to make 300 times more than the average worker?

2. Is it ethical for managers to take large pay increases when laying off employees?

Answers vary

3. Is it ethical for managers to get pay raises when their companies lose money?

4. Are companies being socially responsible when paying executives premium compensation?