Management Functions and Skills Quiz

Management and Managers

• Management Functions: Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling (POLC)
• Management Levels: Top Managers, Middle Managers, First-Line Managers, Team Leaders, Non-managerial Employees
• Managerial Roles: Interpersonal (figurehead, leader), Informational (spokesperson, disseminator, monitor), Decisional (negotiator, entrepreneur)
• Efficiency vs Effectiveness: Efficiency is resource utilization; effectiveness is goal achievement. A manager can be efficient but ineffective (using resources well for the wrong goal) or ineffective but efficient (using resources poorly for the right goal).
• Managerial Skills: Conceptual (analyzing situations and cause-effect), Human (understanding, leading others), Technical (job-specific knowledge/techniques)
• Core Competency: Unique skills, knowledge, and experience of an organization that makes it outperform others.
• Managerial Challenges: Managing for competitive advantage, technological advances, inclusion and diversity, globalization, ethical standards, sustainable development, happiness and meaningfulness

Management Theories

• Scientific Management (Frederick Taylor): Systematic study of task-person interactions for efficiency improvement.
  • Taylor's Four Principles: Study work, codify procedures, select and train employees, reward performance.

Administrative Management (Max Weber):

• Bureaucracy Principles: System of organization with formal authority, hierarchical structure, and strict rules.

Behavioral Viewpoint of Management

• Hawthorne Studies: Experiments on worker fatigue and performance, revealing social/psychological factors in work.
• Early Behaviorism (Munsterberg): Identifying best people for jobs, optimal psychological conditions, influence methods.
• Mary Parker Follett: Emphasized horizontal communication and knowledge-based authority.

Quantitative Approaches

• The text does not provide detailed information on quantitative approaches to solving problems.

Systems View of Management

• Open vs Closed Systems: Open systems interact with the environment; closed systems do not.
• Synergy: Combined effect greater than individual efforts.
• Feedback: Information about reactions to outputs affecting inputs.
• Inputs, Transformations, Outputs, Feedback: The process of using inputs, transforming them via organizational capabilities, producing outputs, receiving environmental feedback.

Strategic Management

• SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
• PESTLE Analysis: Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental factors
• Five Forces Model: Threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products, rivalry among existing firms, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers.
• VRIO Framework: Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization (competitive advantage framework).
• BCG Matrix: Corporate portfolio analysis, categorizing products as Stars, Question Marks, Cash Cows, Dogs based on market growth/share.
• Corporate-level Strategy: Deciding which businesses to be in.
• Business-Level Strategy: Competitive strategies within an industry.
• Functional-level Strategy: Supporting the business-level strategy within functions like marketing, operations.
• Strategic Management Process: Mission, vision, assessment, strategy formulation, implementation, control

Control

• Six reasons for control: adapt to change, discover errors, reduce costs, detect opportunities, provide feedback, decentralise decision-making, facilitate teamwork.
• Three Types of Control: Feedforward, Concurrent, Feedback
• Balanced Scorecard: Measures organizational performance from four perspectives: Customer, Financial, Internal Business, Learning & Growth.

Organizational Structure & Culture

• Organizational Structure Features: Common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labour, hierarchy of authority, span of control.
• Centralization vs Decentralization: Centralized decision-making vs distributed decision-making.
• Organizational Culture Levels: Observable artefacts, espoused values, underlying assumptions.
• Four Types of Culture: Clan (internal/flexible), Adhocracy (external/flexible), Market (external/controlled), Hierarchy.

Organizational Development (OD)

• How OD Works: Diagnosis, Intervention, Evaluation, Feedback
• Ten Reasons for Resistance to Change: Predisposition to change, surprise, fear of the unknown, climate of mistruths, fear of failure, loss of status, disruption of culture, peer pressure, lack of tact, non-reinforcing reward systems.

Test your knowledge on key management concepts such as the POLC functions, managerial roles, and efficiency versus effectiveness. This quiz covers levels of management, essential skills, and challenges faced by managers today. Perfect for students or professionals looking to enhance their understanding of management.