Questions and Answers
What is management?
The process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals.
What are the four functions of management?
What are the different levels of management?
Top-level management, middle-level management, frontline management, and team leaders.
What major challenges do managers face?
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What is knowledge management?
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What is innovation in terms of competitive advantage?
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What is systems theory?
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What is an ethical climate?
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What are business ethics?
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What is quantitative management?
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What is a macroenvironment?
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Study Notes
Management Fundamentals
- Management involves working with people and resources to achieve organizational objectives.
Functions of Management
- Key functions include:
- Planning: Setting goals and outlining steps to achieve them.
- Organizing: Arranging resources to implement the plan.
- Leading: Motivating and guiding team members.
- Controlling: Monitoring progress and making adjustments.
Levels of Management
- Top-Level Managers: Senior executives responsible for overall management and long-term strategies.
- Middle-Level Managers: Tactical managers translating strategic goals into specific actions for frontline managers.
- Frontline Managers: Operational managers directly overseeing day-to-day activities and working closely with non-management employees.
- Team Leaders: Facilitate team effectiveness and decision-making in flatter organizational structures.
Managerial Challenges
- Challenges include globalization, technological changes, knowledge management, collaboration, and diversity.
- Knowledge management focuses on fully utilizing an organization’s intellectual resources.
Sources of Competitive Advantage
- Key aspects include innovation, quality, customer service, speed, and cost competitiveness.
Management Theories
- Contemporary Theories: Include systems theory, organizational behavior, quantitative management, and sociotechnical systems.
- Classical Theories: Span systematic management, scientific management, bureaucracy, administrative management, and human relations.
Bureaucracy
- Emphasizes a structured, formal network to govern relationships within an organization.
Human Relations Management
- Focuses on psychological and social processes influencing performance, differing from organizational behaviors in approach.
Scientific Management
- Advocates applying scientific methods for efficient work processes, including precise development of tasks and worker cooperation.
Hawthorne Effect
- Refers to behavior changes when individuals are aware they are being observed.
Administrative Management
- Identifies principles for superior organizational performance through managerial functions.
Quantitative Management
- Applies quantitative analysis for informed managerial decisions.
Organizational Behavior
- Examines how management practices impact employee effectiveness, distinguishing between Theory X (authoritarian) and Theory Y (participative).
Systems Theory
- Views organizations as open systems that transform inputs into outputs to meet market needs.
Contingency Theory
- Proposes that management strategies depend on situational characteristics, including external environments and internal strengths.
Business Environments
- Organizations operate in three environments: macroenvironment, competitive environment, and external environment.
Macroenvironment
- Comprises general factors affecting all organizations, such as economic conditions and government policies.
Competitive Environment
- Encompasses immediate factors like suppliers, customers, and competitors that influence a business's strategic decisions.
Barriers to Entry
- Conditions that hinder new companies from entering an industry, impacting market competition.
Environmental Scanning
- The process of collecting and analyzing information about the environment for strategic decision-making.
Benchmarking
- Involves comparing organizations’ practices to identify performance gaps and best practices for improvement.
Adaptive Management Strategies
- Various approaches include buffering (creating excess resource supplies), smoothing (leveling fluctuations), and legal/political actions.
Contracts
- Formal agreements that establish predictable relationships between organizations and other entities.
Cooptation
- Involves incorporating new elements into leadership to secure stability.
Coalition
- A group of individuals with shared interests influencing organizational activities.
Domain Selection
- Involves entering new markets based on existing expertise.
Diversification
- Strategy to increase sales through introducing new products in new markets.
Mergers and Divestitures
- Mergers combine organizations, while divestiture involves transferring ownership of operations.
Organizational Culture
- Refers to shared assumptions within an organization, used by managers to foster cohesion and adaptability.
Ethical Theories
- Utilitarianism: Emphasizes the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
- Egoism: Focuses on self-interest; can lead to self-centered behavior.
- Relativism: Bases ethical behavior on societal norms.
Ethical Climate
- Processes influencing organizational decisions based on ethics; poor climates show signs of ethical failure.
Compliance-Based vs. Integrity-Based Ethics Programs
- Compliance-based programs focus on legal adherence, while integrity-based programs instill personal responsibility for ethical conduct.
Corporate Social Responsibility
- Business obligations towards society, encompassing economic, legal, and philanthropic responsibilities.
Ecocentric Management
- A focus on sustainable development and improving life quality for all stakeholders.
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
- Examines the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from production to disposal.
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Description
Test your knowledge on the fundamentals of management with these flashcards. Covering key concepts such as the definition of management, the four functions, and the different levels of management, this quiz is perfect for students in Management 371. Enhance your understanding and prepare for your exams with ease.
