Principles of Management Multiple Choice

The task environment is the set of forces and conditions that originates with suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors; these forces and conditions affect an organization's ability to obtain inputs and dispose of its outputs.

In a matrix structure, managers group people and resources in two ways simultaneously: by function and by product.

Managers can use benchmarking to compare their performance on specific dimensions with the performance of high-performing organizations to decide how successful a change effort has been.

The functional-level plan is the functional or departmental managers' decisions pertaining to the goals that they propose to pursue to help the division attain its business-level goals, which, in turn, will allow the entire company to achieve its corporate goals.

Real-time information is information that reflects current business conditions.

Operating margin is calculated by dividing a company's operating profit (the amount it has left after all the costs of making the product and running the business have been deducted) by sales revenues.

Theory Y assumes that workers, if given the opportunity, will do what is good for the organization. It is the manager’s task to create a work setting that encourages commitment to organizational goals and provides opportunities for workers to be imaginative and to exercise initiative and self-direction.

Quantum product innovations results in the development of new, often radically different, kinds of goods and services because of fundamental shifts in technology brought about by pioneering discoveries. Quantum product innovations are relatively rare.

Control systems are formal target-setting, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback systems that provide managers with information about whether the organization's strategy and structure are working efficiently and effectively.

The greater the level of uncertainty in the organization's environment, the more complex its strategy and technology.

Mentoring is a process by which an experienced member of an organization (the mentor) provides advice and guidance to a less experienced member (the protégé) and helps the less experienced member learn how to advance in the organization and in his or her career.

Managers pursue unrelated diversification when they establish divisions or buy companies in new industries that are not linked in any way to their current businesses or industries.

Esprit de corps refers to shared feelings of comradeship, enthusiasm, or devotion to a common cause among members of a group.

At the conversion stage, concurrent control gives managers immediate feedback on how efficiently inputs are being transformed into outputs so managers can correct problems as they arise.

Perception is the process through which people select, organize, and interpret sensory input. All decisions and actions of managers are based on their subjective perceptions.

Selection is the process by which managers determine the relative qualifications of job applicants and their potential for performing well in a particular job.

The least complex global operations are exporting and importing. Few risks are associated with exporting because a company does not have to invest in developing manufacturing facilities abroad.

Control systems are formal target-setting, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback systems that provide managers with information about whether the organization's strategy and structure are working efficiently and effectively.

Discipline is the obedience, energy, application, and other outward marks of respect for a superior's authority.

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) is a comprehensive standardized questionnaire that many managers rely on to conduct job analyses.

To outsource is to use outside suppliers and manufacturers to produce goods and services.

Bottom-up change is a gradual or evolutionary approach to change in which managers at all levels work together to develop a detailed plan for change. It emphasizes participation and on keeping people informed to minimize uncertainty and resistance.

In adopting a global geographic structure, managers locate different divisions in each of the world regions where the organization operates.

Realizing that employees' needs and desires might differ, some organizations offer cafeteria-style benefit plans that let employees themselves choose the benefits they want.

Reliability is the degree to which a tool or test measures the same thing each time it is administered.

The GLOBE Project's dimension of assertiveness focuses on the degree to which members of organizations are confrontational and aggressive in their relationships with others.

Controlling is the process whereby managers monitor and regulate how efficiently and effectively an organization and its members are performing the activities necessary to achieve organizational goals.