Chapter 1 The Exceptional Manager

CHAPTER 1: THE EXCEPTIONAL MANAGER - Organization: a group of people who work together to achieve some specific purpose Management is defined as: 1. The pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively 2. Integrating the work of people through 3. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the organization’s resources - Efficiency-the means: the means of attaining the organization’s goals - To be efficient: to use resources - people, money, raw materials, and the like -wisely and cost-effectively - Efficient example that is not effective: telephone phone recordings Effectiveness-the ends: effectiveness regards the organization’s ends, The goals. - To be effective: to achieve results, to make the right decisions and to successfully carry them out so that they achieve the organization’s goals - Rewards of Studying Management - You will understand: how to deal with organizations from the outside - How to relate to your supervisors - How to interact with coworkers - How to manage yourself in the workplace - You and your employees can experience a sense of accomplishment - You can stretch your abilities to magnify your range - You can build a catalog of successful products or servesc - You can become a mentor and help others The Management Process 1. Planning: setting goals and deciding how to achieve them 2. Organizing: arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work 3. Leading: motivating, direct, and otherwise influence people to work hard to achieve the organization’s goals 4. Controlling: you monitor performance, compare it with goals, and take corrective actions as needed Seven Challenges to Being a Star Manager 1. Managing for competitive advantage - staying ahead of rivals a. Competitive advantage: the ability of an organization to produce goods or services more effectively than competitors do thereby outperforming them b. Managing for competitive advantage: being responsive to customer, innovation, quality, efficiency 2. Managing diversity - the future won’t resemble the past 3. Managing for globalization - the expanding management universe 4. Managing for information technology - dealing with the new normal 5. Managing for ethical standards 6. Managing for sustainability - the business of green a. Sustainability: economic development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs 7. Managing for your own happiness and meaningfulness Implications for information technology: - Far-ranging electronic management: e-communication all the time - More and more data: challenges to decision making - The rise of artificial intelligence: more automation in the workforce - Organizational changes: shifts in structure, jobs, goals, and knowledge management Levels of Management - Top managers: make long-term decisions about the overall direction of the organization and establish the objectives, policies, and strategies for it - Middle managers: implement the policies and plans of the top managers above them and supervise and coordinate the activities of the first-line managers below them - First-line managers: make short-term operating decisions, directing the daily tasks of non managerial personnel Four Levels of Management - Team leader: a manager who is responsible for facilitating team activities toward achieving key results - < High touch= jobs: dealing with people rather than computer screens or voice-response systems Functional manager: responsible for just one organizational activity General manager: responsible for several organizational activities Three types of organizations 1. For-profit organizations: for making money 2. Non-profit organizations: for offering services 3. Mutual-benefit organizations: for aiding members The Skills Exceptional Managers need: - Technical skills: the job-specific knowledge needed to perform well in a specialized fileve - Human skills: the ability to work well in cooperation with other people to get things done - Soft skills: the ability to motivate, to inspire trust, to communicate with others - Conceptual skills: the ability to think analytically, to visualize an organization as a whole and understand how the parts work together The Most Valued Traits in Managers - the ability to motivate and engage others - The ability to communicate - Work experience outside the United States - High energy levels to meet the demands of global travel and a 24/7 world The Manager’s roles: Mintzberg’s useful findings 1. A manager relies more on verbal than on written communication 2. A manager works long hours at an intense pace 3. A manager’s work is characterized by fragmentation, brevity, and variety Three Types of Managerial Roles 1. Interpersonalroles a. Managers interact with people inside and outside their work units b. Figurehead, leader, liaison 2. Informational roles a. Managers receive and communicate information b. Monitor, disseminator, spokesperson 3. Decisional roles a. Managers use information to make decisions to solve problems or take advantage of opportunities b. Entrepreneur, disturbance handlers, resource allocator, negotiator Entrepreneurship: the process of taking risks to try to create a new empire; entrepreneur, entrepreneur - Entrepreneur: someone who sees a new opportunity for a product or service and launches business to try to realize it - intrapreneur: someone who works inside an existing organization who sees an opportunity for a product or service and mobilizes the organization's resources to try to realize it - Being an entrepreneur is what it takes to start a business, being a manager is what it takes to grow or maintain a business - Necessity entrepreneurs: people who suddenly must earn a living and are simply trying to replace lost income and are hoping a job comes along - Opportunity entrepreneurs: those who start their business out of a burning desire rather than because they lost a job CHAPTER 1 CONCEPT CHECK: 1. What key to career growth did Jeff Bezos possess that motivated him to leave a stable lucrative job and create a start-up that became Amazon? a. Ability to take risks 2. In business, a group of people who work together in an attempt to achieve some specific purpose is known as a(n) _____. a. Organization 3. The pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively by integrating the work of people through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the organization’s resources is the definition of _____. a. Management 4. As a manager, to practice _____ means to use the organization's resources cost-effectively and wisely. a. Efficiency 5. To be _____ in management means to achieve results, to make the right decisions, and to successfully carry them out in order to achieve the organization's goals. a. Effective 6. True or false: The ability to take risks is a key to career growth. a. True 7. The concept that a manager's influence extends far beyond the results that can be achieved by an individual acting alone is called the _____ effect. a. Multiplier 8. Which of the following defines an organization? a. A group of people who work together to achieve some specific purpose 9. Which of the following statements is true about the financial rewards of being a manager? a. Some middle-level managers make more than $100,000 a year. 10. Which of the following are management activities? (Select all that apply.) a. Pursuing organizational goals b. Controlling the organization's resources c. Integrating the work of people 11. True or false: Studying management enables you to understand how to manage yourself in the workplace and interact and relate more effectively with your supervisors and coworkers. a. True 12. Managers should pursue organizational goals efficiently. This means that managers should a. use resources cost-effectively. 13. A _____ is an experienced person who provides guidance to someone new to the workplace. a. Mentor 14. A manager who is effective: (Select all that apply.) a. carries out decisions successfully so that the organization’s goals are achieved. b. achieves results. c. makes the right decisions. 15. Managers have a multiplier effect in organizations, which means that ______. a. their influence goes far beyond the results that one person could achieve acting alone 16. The planning function of management is characterized by a. setting goals and deciding how to achieve them. 17. What are two potential rewards of being an exceptional manager? (Select 2 answer choices) a. The ability to earn more than most workers b. Fringe benefits, such as a large office or stock options 18. Which of the following are the rewards of studying management? (Check all that apply.) a. Better understanding of how to relate to your supervisors wherever you work b. Improved ability to manage yourself in the workplace c. Increased insight into how to interact with your co-workers 19. The organizing function of management is characterized by a. arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work. 20. Alisha is a senior partner in a law firm. She has given Victoria, a new associate fresh out of law school, guidance and advice to help her grow in her career. Alisha would be described as a. A mentor 21. Motivating, directing, and otherwise influencing people to work hard to achieve the organization's goals is the definition of which management function? a. Leading 22. The four management functions are a. Controlling b. Organizing c. Leading d. Planning 23. Setting goals and figuring out how to achieve them describes the _____ function of the management process. a. Planning 24. The managerial function of ______ involves monitoring performance, comparing it to goals, and taking corrective action when needed. a. Controlling 25. Which of the following statements is true about the financial rewards of being a manager? a. Some middle-level managers make more than $100,000 a year. 26. Individuals in management who make long-term decisions about the overall direction of the organization and establish the objectives, policies, and strategies are called _______ managers. a. Top-line 27. Arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work is known as the _____ function of management. a. Organizing 28. Middle managers are said to have "high-touch" jobs because they _____. a. Deal directly with people 29. The function of leading in management is defined as a. motivating, directing, and otherwise influencing people to work hard to achieve the organization's goals. 30. Managers who make short-term operating decisions and direct the tasks of non-managerial personnel are called _______ managers. a. First-line 31. Nonmanagerial employees do not formally supervise other employees. a. True 32. The managerial function of controlling is defined as a. monitoring performance, comparing it with goals, and taking corrective action as needed. 33. Which of the following are top managers' responsibilities in an organization? (Check all that apply.) a. Being alert for long-run problems and opportunities b. Paying close attention to the organization's external environment c. Devising strategies for dealing with long-run opportunities and problems 34. Which employee is the best example of a functional manager? a. Brett, who is the manager of the company's accounting department. 35. The majority of a company's workforce is made up of _____. a. Nonmanagerial employees 36. Managers who are responsible for several organizational activities rather than just one are called ______ managers. a. General 37. Which of the following are three examples of commonweal organizations? (Select 3 options.) a. The U.S. Postal Service b. The military c. The local fire department 38. Voluntary collections of members whose purpose is to advance the interests of their members are known as _____ organizations. a. Mutual-benefit 39. True or false: Mintzberg's study of chief executives revealed that the majority of their workday involved speaking face-to-face with customers. a. False 40. According to Mintzberg's findings, it was typical for managers to work ____ hours per week at a minimum. a. 50 41. Which of the following are true of nonprofit organizations? (Check all that apply.) a. Their purpose is to offer services to clients. b. They may operate in the private sector. 42. What are two examples of a mutual-benefit organization? a. trade association b. political party 43. The purpose of Mintzberg's study of chief executives in the late 1960s was to a. figure out what it is that they actually do in their jobs. 44. According to Mintzberg, ______ of the tasks completed by managers take less than 9 minutes. a. About half 45. Mintzberg determined that managers tend to rely more heavily on ______ communication than ______ communication when conducting business. a. verbal; written 46. What did Mintzberg observe about work behavior in the managers he studied? a. Some worked up to 90 hours a week. b. They almost always devoted lunchtime to meetings. 47. According to Mintzberg, what are the informational roles of a manager? a. Disseminator b. Monitor c. Spokesperson 48. According to Mintzberg, what are two of the decision-making roles of a manager? a. Entrepreneur b. Negotiator 49. As a result of the "interrupt-driven day," a major challenge managers face is ______. a. Time and task management 50. Which managerial roles were identified by Mintzberg as interpersonal roles? a. Liaison b. Leader c. Figurehead 51. True or false: Today, it is more common for a company to hire an executive who will give orders rather than someone who will ask questions and encourage independent thinking. a. False 52. What are the primary skills that companies seek in top managers? (Select all that apply.) a. The ability to communicate b. The ability to motivate and engage others c. A high level of energy 53. To maintain a competitive advantage, an organization must stay ahead of its competitors in which of the following areas? (Check all that apply.) a. Innovation b. Quality c. Customer responsiveness d. Efficiency 54. What is considered the first law of business for achieving competitive advantage? a. Take care of the customer 55. Stores of data so vast that conventional database management systems cannot handle them are known as a. Big Data 56. What is the definition of e-business? a. Using the Internet to facilitate every aspect of running a business 57. The discipline concerned with creating computer systems that simulate human reasoning and sensation, as represented by robots, natural language processing, pattern recognition, and similar technologies, is known as _____. a. artificial intelligence 58. The advent of cloud computing has made it possible for employees to a. have access to company data from anywhere with an Internet connection. 59. Computerized collections of interrelated files for assembling large quantities of information are called ______. a. Databases 60. When employees work from home or remote locations by using a variety of information technologies, they are ______. a. Telecommuting 61. What issue does the advent of Big Data raise for governments and businesses? a. the protection of users' privacy 62. Which two descriptions accurately characterize artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace? (Select 2 options.) a. It can be applied both to blue-collar and white-collar skills. b. It includes using computer systems to mimic human reasoning. 63. In order to stay ahead of rivals, managers should remember to be responsive to customers. This is considered the _________. a. First law of business 64. Knowledge management involves implementing systems and practices in order to a. increase the sharing of information. 65. The discipline concerned with creating computer systems that simulate human reasoning and sensation, as represented by robots, natural language processing, pattern recognition, and similar technologies, is known as _____. a. artificial intelligence 66. Which three racial or ethnic groups in the United States are expected to increase in terms of the percentage of the population over the next few decades? (Select all that apply.) a. Asians b. African Americans c. Hispanics 67. True or false: Taking ownership of a work project is an example of an attitude. a. True 68. Identifying activities you love doing, finding a way to build your natural strengths into your personal and work life, and going out and helping someone are three ways you can work to build _____ into your life. a. Meaningfulness 69. Which of the following are keys to success in managing your career readiness? a. Taking responsibility over managing your career b. Following a process c. Personal reflection, motivation, commitment, and experimentation