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SELF ASSESSMENT

Chap 1
1. A - Henry Fayol
2. C - F.W.Taylor
3. B - Mining
4. D - Peter F.Drucker
5. B - Management is a discipline
6. D - Planning
7. C - Staffing
8. A - Open system
9. D - There is no need of explaining organizational objectives to
every employee
10. D - scientists

Chap 3
1. A – Peter F.Drucker
2. C – Planning is not common to all
3. C – Strategic
4. A – Forecasting
5. A – Planning
6. B – Time series analysis
7. A – Peter F.Ducker
8. B – MBO
9. A – Managers
10. A – Principle of participation

CHAPTER 1
Chapter review questions
1. What are the characteristics and traits that you possess that are
common to all successful managers?

The characteristics and traits that I possess that are common to all
successful managers are communication and decision-making. In
communication, I can tailor my communication to different
audiences and ensure everyone understands the message. For
decision-making, I can analyze information and data to identify the
best course of action.

2. Why should management be considered an occupation rather


than a profession?

Management should be considered an occupation rather than a


profession because of:
The lower barrier to entry: There is no standard path for you to
become a manager. You don’t necessarily need a specific degree or
certification, though some fields may favor them.
and Profit vs. Service: Because some managers prioritize social
good, they mainly focus on profit maximization for the
organization.

3. How do managers learn how to perform the job?

Managers develop their skills through a blend of informal learning


and on-the-job experience. For example:
Mentorship and Coaching: Mentorship from experienced
managers can be invaluable. A mentor can provide guidance, share
best practices, and offer support as new managers navigate
challenges.
Networking: Connecting with other managers, both within and
outside the organization, allows for knowledge sharing and
learning from different perspectives.

4. Explain the manager’s job according to Henry Mintzberg

Henry Mintzberg, a renowned management scholar, proposed that


managers wear many hats and fulfill ten different roles categorized
into three main areas: interpersonal, informational, and decisional
Interpersonal Roles: Figurehead, Leader, and Liaison.
Informational Roles: Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson.
Spokesperson: Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource
Allocator, Negotiator.
By understanding these ten roles, managers can be more effective
in their day-to-day work. Mintzberg's theory highlights the diverse
nature of a manager's job, which goes beyond simply giving orders
and involves a complex web of interpersonal communication,
information processing, and decision-making.

5. What responsibilities do managers have towards people within


the organization? How do they express
these responsibilities?
Managers have a significant set of responsibilities towards the
people they manage within the organization. These responsibilities
can be broadly grouped into two categories: development and
well-being.
For development: There are a few important factors that can be
mentioned such as:
Providing Direction and Goal and Promoting Learning and
Development:
For well-being, Creating a Positive Work Environment and
supporting work-life Balance is the most crucial in
management.
In the way they express these responsibilities, managers can do
communication to get some work feedback and recognition
from their team members. Otherwise, they can show their
recognition and appreciation to employees. Recognizing and
appreciating employees' efforts and contributions is crucial for
motivation and morale.

6. How do managers perform their job according to John Kotter?

According to Kotter, managers are primarily concerned with


stability and maintaining the status quo, whereas leaders focus on
initiating and navigating change. Kotter has some views on the
manager's role in performance: Planning and Budgeting,
Organizing and Staffing, Controlling and Problem-Solving, and
Communication and Coordination.

7. How do managers make rational decisions?


Managers can make rational decisions by Identifying the Problem
or Opportunity, Gathering Information and Data, Defining
Decision Criteria, and Generating Alternatives,…

8. How does the nature of management change according to one’s


level and function in the organization?

Responsibility and authority of managers increase with an increase


in the level and functions of management. There is an authority-
responsibility relationship between people which gives rise to
different levels of the organization.

9. Discuss the role of management in the larger societal context.


What do you think the managers of the future will be like?

Management plays an important role in setting the boundaries for


what is acceptable ethically and legally. Future managers will be
global strategists, good at technology, politicians, and good leader-
motivators

10. Identify what you think are the critical issues facing
contemporary management. Explain.

Managers are overloaded with information and it is difficult for


them to extract valuable information. They also face immense
pressure to make the firm competitive and profitable.
Management Skills Application Exercises
1. Portfolio Management for Skills Demonstration:

Throughout your academic journey and team-based assignments,


you will most likely create a variety of artifacts showcasing certain
capabilities such as spreadsheet application competency,
programming skills, and communication ability, as demonstrated in
films. Recognizing the worth of these artifacts is critical, as is
cataloging and storing them in a portfolio. This portfolio is a
concrete reflection of your abilities and accomplishments, giving
crucial evidence for future employment interviews. Maintaining a
thorough portfolio allows you to effectively demonstrate your
skills to potential employers, boosting your competitiveness in the
employment market.

2. Time Management Plan:

Effective time management is critical for success as a manager. To


improve your time management skills, consider categorizing your
activities into required and discretionary tasks. Utilize a schedule
calendar to meticulously track your time, allocating specific time
slots for each activity throughout the week. After a week of
logging your activities, assess their productivity using a 10-point
scale, distinguishing between productive and unproductive usage
of time.
Moving forward, implement the following strategies to optimize
your time management:
Start Doing:
- Prioritize Tasks: Identify and prioritize tasks based on their
importance and urgency to ensure essential tasks are completed
first.
- Time Blocking: Allocate dedicated time blocks for focused work
on high-priority tasks, minimizing interruptions and distractions.
- Goal Setting: Set clear, achievable goals for each day or week,
guiding your activities and ensuring progress toward objectives.

Stop Doing:
- Procrastination: Address procrastination tendencies by breaking
tasks into smaller, manageable steps and setting deadlines for
completion.
- Multitasking: Avoid multitasking, as it can reduce productivity
and focus on individual tasks.

Managing Discretionary Time:


- Set Boundaries: Establish boundaries around discretionary
activities to prevent overindulgence and ensure a balance between
work and leisure.
- Prioritize Self-Care: Allocate discretionary time for activities
that promote well-being and relaxation, such as exercise, hobbies,
and spending time with loved ones.

By implementing these strategies, you'll develop effective time


management habits, increasing productivity, and enhancing your
effectiveness as a manager.

Managerial Decision Exercises


1. You are a manager at a local convenience store that has been
the victim of graffiti. Identify the roles you will undertake with
both internal employees and others.
Roles for Dealing with Graffiti Incidents:

- As a manager at a neighborhood convenience shop, handling the


graffiti situation requires a variety of roles with both internal
personnel and external parties:
Internal employees:
- Communicator: Effectively convey the problem to store
employees, ensuring they understand the gravity of the situation
and any essential steps they must take.
- Coordinator: Coordinate employee efforts to wipe up graffiti by
allocating assignments and ensuring everyone works efficiently.
- Trainer: Train personnel on ways to prevent future graffiti
incidents, such as installing security measures and reporting
suspicious activities.

- Liaison with law enforcement: Report graffiti incidents and


give evidence for inquiry.
- Collaboration with Community Groups: Work with
community groups or volunteers to organize graffiti cleanup
events and encourage community participation in avoiding
vandalism.
- Collaboration with Property Owners: Coordinate with the
property owner or landlord, as applicable, to establish graffiti
removal techniques and responsibilities for maintaining the
property's appearance.

By completing these tasks, the manager may effectively address


the graffiti incident and act to prevent future instances,
safeguarding the convenience store's safety and reputation in the
neighborhood.

2. Here are three job titles. Rank which job would devote the
most of its time to conceptual, human, and technical skills.
a. Vice President of Finance at a Fortune 100 company:
- Conceptual abilities: This role would spend a substantial
amount of time developing conceptual abilities such as strategic
planning, financial analysis, and high-level decision-making
within the organization.
- Human Skills: While crucial, this role's major focus may not
be on human skills as much as technical and intellectual skills.
However, excellent communication and leadership skills are
still required when interacting with teams and stakeholders.
- Technical abilities: Technical abilities in finance, accounting
concepts, and financial software usage are required but may not
take as much time as conceptual skills in this high-level
function.

b. Coding for Video Game Producers:


- Conceptual Skills: While understanding overarching game
design and objectives is vital, the primary focus of this function
will be on technical programming and coding skills.
- Human Skills: Collaboration with team members and
communication skills are vital, but they may not take as much
time as technical abilities in this highly technical position.
- Technical Skills: This role would spend the most time on
technical skills such as coding languages, software development
tools, and troubleshooting methods.

c. General Manager for a Local McDonald's Franchise:


- Conceptual abilities: While strategic planning and decision-
making within the brand remain crucial, this role's primary
focus would be human and technological abilities.
- Human Skills: As a general manager in charge of everyday
operations and managing a team of people, leadership,
communication, and dispute resolution would be important
priorities.
- Technical Skills: This post would also require extensive
knowledge of restaurant operations, such as food safety
standards, inventory management, and customer service norms.

Overall, skill emphasis is ranked according to the nature of each


job title and its specific duties within the business.

Critical Thinking Case


1. How has the current cultural environment of our country
shaped the way that companies are looking at their corporate
cultural standards?

The contemporary cultural milieu in our country, marked by


increasing knowledge and debate of social issues such as sexual
assault, racial discrimination, and harassment, has had a
considerable impact on how businesses perceive and assess their
corporate cultural norms. With the development of movements like
#metoo and increased scrutiny of social injustices, businesses are
under pressure to rethink their internal policies, build inclusive
workplaces, and speak out against discrimination and misbehavior.
The prominence of scandals and public indignation has compelled
businesses to stress ethical behavior, diversity, and openness in
their corporate cultures to meet societal standards and retain public
trust.

2. What are the potential downfalls and positive influences of the


“Netflix way”?

The "Netflix way" represents a culture founded on radical candor,


transparency, freedom, and accountability. While this strategy can
have great effects, such as encouraging open communication,
empowering people, and stimulating creativity, it also has
significant drawbacks. One potential disadvantage is the risk of
creating a competitive environment in which openness is regarded
as harsh, resulting in employee stress or burnout. Furthermore, if
the emphasis on radical candor is not managed successfully, it
might lead to conflicts or misunderstandings. However, when
properly adopted, the "Netflix way" can foster a dynamic and high-
performing organizational culture.

3. How does Netflix’s internal culture negatively or positively


affect its ability to stay competitive and deliver cutting-edge
content?

Netflix's organizational culture has both positive and bad


implications for its capacity to remain competitive and offer
cutting-edge content. Positively, their culture of freedom and
responsibility encourages people to take risks, try out new ideas,
and create unique material. This speed and ingenuity help Netflix
remain ahead of the competition and fulfill changing consumer
needs. However, the emphasis on radical candor and transparency
may create internal tensions or conflicts, affecting teamwork and
morale. Overall, Netflix's internal culture shapes their competitive
advantage, impacting their capacity to attract top personnel,
respond to industry changes, and provide high-quality
entertainment experiences to viewers.

CHAPTER 3

Chapter review questions


1. What contributions did ancient civilizations make to management
thought?
- Hammurabi - Written commands and controls
- Sumerians - Writing and trade
- Nebuchadnezzar - Incentives
- Ancient Egyptians - Division of labor, coordination, and span of
control
- Sun Tzu - Division of labor, communication and coordination
- Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) - Development of bureaucracy
- Ancient Greeks - Division of labor
- Romans - Standardization
- Italians - Accounting, corporations, multinational corporations
- John Florio - Management of the English language

2. Describe the role of the Renaissance in shaping management


thought.

The Italian Renaissance saw the emergence of new knowledge and


learning, which mostly had economic and business implications.
Basic printing techniques help to spread these ideas and knowledge
throughout Europe.
The emergence of modern enterprises in Italy creates the need for
people to run these new enterprises. The increasing scope and
complexity of these commercial activities led to inventions such as
double-entry bookkeeping and motivated companies to hire business
managers.
3. How did the Industrial Revolution change business and the
economy?
- The Industrial Revolution increased the British Empire's power and
commercial prospects. As trade progressed, the marketplace emerged as
the primary mechanism for organizing the exchange of goods. The
market would coordinate the actions and activities of diverse
participants, allowing resources to be directed to the most effective uses.
Adam Smith, an economist and moral philosopher, was a prominent
intellectual figure during this period. The concept of labor specialization
resulted in several key results. First, specialization significantly
decreased the cost of goods. Second, it significantly reduced the demand
for training. Workers were required to learn only a fraction of a task
rather than all of it. Third, coordinating many tasks necessitated
increased management focus.
- Another important aspect of the Industrial Revolution was the
development of the steam engine, which greatly improved the movement
of goods and raw materials. The steam engine reduced production and
transportation expenses, cutting prices and enabling items to reach
further markets. All of these elements influenced the Industrial
Revolution, which lasted from 1760 to 1900. The modern company
emerged during the Industrial Revolution when management specialized
and coordinated work, typically in a manufacturing setting.

4. Describe scientific management. How was scientific


management different from management techniques that came
before it?
- Scientific management, as the name implies, employs scientific
methodologies, research, studies, and knowledge from various areas of
work to manage employees and maximize productivity.

- Previously, administration was based on tradition and general rules of


thumb. There were no incentives, and management and the staff were
competing with one another. Managers inspire employees with physical
techniques and sanctions.

- Scientific management employs scientific, social, and psychological


knowledge. Workers were paid according to their outputs, with
incentives for generating more than a set amount. Workers were
assigned to the job that they did best.

5. Who were the key contributors to scientific management?


Henri Fayol (1841–1925) and Max Weber (1864–1920) were the key
contributors to scientific management. They both wrote complementary
contributions to Taylor’s four principles of the scientific management
framework. Whereas Taylor focused on frontline managers, those who
handle workers, Fayol focused on top managers, who set strategy,
Weber focused on middle managers, who implement strategy. Although
Taylor, Fayol, and Weber viewed management from different
perspectives, each stressed the need for logical, rational systems to
coordinate and control various types of enterprises.

6. Describe the Hawthorne studies. Was Elton Mayo a humanist?


- The first phase of the Hawthorne studies was called the illumination
study, and it sought to measure the impact of light on productivity. The
study was inconclusive because there were too many variables other
than light that could have affected worker productivity. The researchers
had difficulty understanding why productivity increased. The second
phase of the study was called the relay-assembly-test room, and these
experiments were carried out in a room where researchers tested the
effect that working conditions such as breaks, length of the workday,
company-provided lunches, and payment method had on productivity. A
third study called the bank wiring room study, was conducted between
1931 and 1932. Rather than being selected to form a new group,
participants in the bank wiring room study consisted of an already
existing group, one that had several bad behaviors. Regardless of
financial incentives, group members decided that they would only
produce 6,000 to 6,600 connections a day.

- Elton Mayo (1880–1949) researched, theorized, and developed human


relations theory based on a 1924–1932 experiment he conducted at the
Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero Illinois. So
it can also be said that Elton Mayo was a humanist.

7. What is the zone of indifference?

- The zone of indifference concept holds that if workers are unconcerned


about directives, they will follow them. This does not imply that they
must agree with or support the commands; rather, workers must just be
indifferent to an order to follow it, and they will do so owing to an
individual's innate predisposition to obey authority.

- The following conditions must be met: the workers must be able to


comply with the order, workers must understand the order; and the order
must be consistent with organizational aims.
8. Describe Follett’s concept of conflict resolution.
According to Follett, there are three main ways to resolve conflicts, they
are dominance, compromise, and integration. Dominance means that one
side has the upper hand in the argument and gets to dictate the terms, but
it usually comes with social costs. The compromise left both sides
unhappy, but they got a result that everyone could agree to. Integration
occurs when each side states its preferences and tries to come to an
agreement

9. What does open systems say about management?


The open system interacts with its environment. Managers' activities are
influenced by external factors like as employment rules and supply and
demand laws.

10. What is contingency management?


The idea that management is an open system in which organizations
interact with the environment to obtain resources was created by systems
management. Managerial options are limited since organizations depend
on external resources. The contingency school clarified that because a
vast array of factors affect interactions, there are no universal rules in
management. The basis of modern management is theory.
Management Decision Exercises

1. Which management scholar do you find to be the most


influential and important, and how would you incorporate their
approach into your managerial approach?

- Based on the information in this chapter about management scholars, I


find that the management scholar I was most impressed and influenced
by was Frederic Winslow Taylor. A pioneer in scientific management,
Taylor focused on efficiency and productivity. He developed time and
motion studies to analyze and improve work processes. Although some
aspects of his work have been criticized for ignoring the human element,
his emphasis on data-driven decision-making remains relevant.
Regarding the combination of Taylor's approach and my management
approach, I will rely on Taylor's strengths to apply to my management
approach.

- Efficiency: A hands-on approach to analyzing tasks and determining


the most efficient way to complete them can help increase productivity
and output.

- Standardization: Establishing clear and consistent processes for


completing tasks can improve accuracy and reduce errors.
- Training and development: Based on the emphasis on the importance
of selecting and training employees for specific tasks, I can improve
their skills and performance.

2. Based on the reading in this chapter, defend or attack this


statement that would be stated by a direct report:
Management is unethical because it is about manipulating workers.
- Attack Statement: While the statement expressed disappointment with
some management approaches, it painted an overly cynical and
inaccurate picture of the sector as a whole.

- Here's why: Oversimplifying management: Management includes


many responsibilities beyond influencing or "manipulating" workers. It
includes tasks such as setting strategies and goals: Guiding the team
toward a shared vision and ensuring alignment with organizational
goals. Motivate and inspire employees: Create a positive work
environment that promotes engagement and productivity. Provide
feedback and development opportunities: Support individual and team
growth through constructive feedback and professional development
opportunities.

- Negative meaning of “manipulation”. The term “manipulation” often


refers to negative and deceptive tactics. However, ethical and effective
management relies on positive influence, not manipulation. Therefore,
although some management practices may be considered manipulative,
given broader responsibilities and ethical considerations, it is inaccurate
to say that management is inherently unethical virtue.

3. Which management scholar matches your viewpoints on the


role of management?
- For me, the management scholar who resonates with my view of the
role of management remains Frederic Winslow Taylor. Because of the
way, he focuses on both efficiency and the human element, combined
with his emphasis on efficiency to prioritize employee health,
motivation, and engagement.

- Next, the way he adapts to a specific context is also a perspective that I


need to learn. Taylor considers the nature of the work, team dynamics,
and organizational goals when applying any management method to
employees because he knows it must be considered to avoid the most
risky results determined.

- Finally, it is about listening to Taylor's employees, regularly seeking


feedback from team members to understand their experiences and
concerns, and continuously improving management methods based on
their ideas. And their contributions.

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