How do systems theory and the contingency approach make managers better at what they do?
> Do you think management is a relevant course for study today? Explain using examples.
> Mintzberg suggested that specific actions or behaviors expected of and exhibited by a manager comprise of three specific roles. Briefly explain them.
> Why are managers important to organizations? What are their key responsibilities in an organization?
> What are the three main roles performed by a manager?
> Contrast the calm waters and white-water rapids metaphors of change.
> Why is a change agent needed for organizational change? Can a low-level employee be a change agent? Explain your answer.
> What can an organization do to encourage ethical behavior?
> Ethical leaders are honest, share their values, stress important shared values, and use the reward system appropriately.” Observe your college professors. Would you consider them to be ethical leaders? Discuss.
> What kind of protection can be afforded to whistleblowers? Are these protective steps sufficient to encourage such actions in future?
> While important, rules may sometimes create more problems than they resolve. Websites like TripAdvisor are valuable for tourism, providing businesses with greater exposure. The problem is not all reviews are positive. A hotel in Blackpool, England, fined
> In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused the largest oil spill in history. BP (British Petroleum) and the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ignored subsequent independent reports of continued oil le
> How can internal and external locus of control influence work behaviors?
> How might the moral development of an employee affect their ethical stance?
> Many organizations around the world claim they are green. What criteria would you consider if you had to evaluate their green credentials objectively?
> Why do you think an organization might not value social responsibility?
> Who is responsible for doing more to break the glass ceiling barrier for women and minorities?
> Are laws, federal or otherwise, necessary for supporting diversity initiatives? Use an example from your country to illustrate.
> Different ethnicities cause problems associated with diversity management. Discuss.
> Look around you and summarize the different forms of diversity you can find at your university or workplace.
> Do you think religion can affect work behaviors?
> Scott Emmons was working for Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer, as an enterprise architect when he realized a big gap in how their stores were handling technology. “Customers were showing up with smartphones and outgunning our own associates’ capability
> In developing countries like Africa, Asia, and Latin America, birth rates are likely to remain high. Are there any benefits of this and is it sustainable?
> What are the benefits and challenges of having workforce diversity in an organization?
> How has workforce diversity changed since the 1960s, particularly in the West?
> Describe how an organization can become a global entity. Why would it choose to do so?
> What makes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) different from the European Union (EU) as a trade alliance? Can those differences impair ASEAN’s effectiveness as a trade alliance compared to the EU?
> What clarity of perspective would the GLOBE framework, as presented in this chapter, offer to local managers to help them understand their employees better?
> What are the benefits of managers knowing foreign languages?
> What are the characteristics of a multi-domestic corporation?
> Discuss the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
> The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership of countries. What are the practical implications of this union?
> In October 2018, the media reported that technology giant Google responded to what were deemed credible sexual assault claims against a former executive by paying him $90 million and praising him as he left the company.60 Google employees have been pushi
> For most people, artificial intelligence brings to mind replacing jobs with robots. However, 1,500 companies studied by the management consulting firm Accenture found that the largest performance gains were when humans and machines worked together.33 Wha
> A monolingual, parochial, and ethnocentric organization is bound to fail. Discuss.
> What are the four ways an organization communicates its culture to employees?
> Why is strong culture likely to have a greater influence on employees compared to weak culture?
> Distinguish between people and team orientation as dimensions of organizational culture
> How is a shareholder different from a stakeholder? If a stakeholder can hold no shares or any ownership inthe organization, why then would the managers care about stakeholder relationships?
> Would a manager’s job be fundamentally different if the same person were to work in different companies in the same industry?
> What does the term external environment mean? Which external environmental factors are more important for a manager to pay attention to?
> Is there a real difference between an omnipotent manager and a “good” manager? Explain.
> What do you understand by personalization technologies? How does big data fit into decision-making processes?
> What should a good manager do if it becomes apparent that a decision that has already been made is clearly not working or solving the situation?
> Change usually involves some kind of modification of the way in which a business does things. Invariably, it means alterations in products or services, and processes. Research seems to suggest that organizations undergo some form of change every three ye
> Most managers adopt particular styles to simplify their decision making. This helps them make sense of information. Why do you think these styles are unreliable?
> Is satisficing a desirable way of making managerial decisions?
> What role does intuition play in decision making?
> Where in the eight-step decision-making process are the likely problem areas for managers?
> Explain how good decision making is a skill that can be learned and improved
> How has technology impacted how managers use the quantitative approach in today’s workplace?
> Describe total quality management.
> Explain what the quantitative approach has contributed to the field of management.
> Why were the Hawthorne Studies so critical to management history?
> Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, the automotive manufacturer Renault was established 120 years ago in 1899, and Japanese automotive manufacturer, Nissan, was founded in 1933, headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. In 1999, these two automotive g
> What did the early advocates of OB contribute to our understanding of management?
> What is a bureaucracy? Do bureaucracies still exist today?
> What is the significance of the industrial revolution?
> How do societal trends influence the practice of management? What are the implications for someone studying management
> Explain why studying management history is important.
> Researchers at Harvard Business School found that the most important managerial behaviors involve two fundamental things: enabling people to move forward in their work and treating them decently as human beings. What do you think of these two managerial
> Is there one best “style” of management? Why or why not?
> Henri Fayol suggested that all managers perform the five functions of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. Was he correct?
> Discuss how managers define organizational purpose. How would the managerial functions help in achieving that purpose?
> Is the task of seeking innovative processes really a manager’s job?
> The 1,000-year-old Latin saying mens sana in corpore sano stands for a healthy mind in a healthy body in English language represents the core idea of The Wellness Foundation, launched by Nerio Alessandri, the founder of Italian wellness company Technogym
> How might operations management apply to other managerial functions besides control?
> Describe lean management and explain why it’s important
> What is ISO 9001 and Six Sigma?
> How does technology play a role in manufacturing?
> How could you use value chain management in your everyday life?
> What is required for successful value chain management? What obstacles exist to successful value chain management?
> What is a value chain, and what is value chain management? What is the goal of value chain management? What are the benefits of value chain management?
> Do you think that manufacturing or service organizations have the greater need for operations management? Explain.
> What is operations management?
> In what ways is managing a project different from managing a department or other structured work area? In what ways are they the same?
> A coworker takes credit for the excellent job you’ve performed. Frustrating! It’s probably happened to you or someone you know. How did it happen? Perhaps you shared an idea with a coworker and then hear her present it as her own in a meeting. Or perhaps
> The Wall Street Journal and other business periodicals often carry reports of companies that have not met their sales or profit forecasts. What are some reasons a company might not meet its forecast? What suggestions could you make for improving the effe
> Do intuition and creativity have any relevance in quantitative planning tools and techniques? Explain.
> It’s a waste of time and other resources to develop a set of sophisticated scenarios for situations that may never occur.” Do you agree or disagree? Support your position.
> What is project management, and what are the steps managers use in planning projects?
> Why is flexibility so important to today’s planning techniques?
> How does PERT network analysis work?
> Describe the four techniques for allocating resources.
> What might be some early warning signs of (a) a new competitor coming into your market, (b) an employee work stoppage, or (c) a new technology that could change demand for your product?
> Describe the different approaches to assessing the environment.
> Every individual employee in an organization plays a role in controlling work activities.” Do you agree with this statement, or do you think control is something that only managers are responsible for? Explain.
> The 2019 Women’s FIFA World Cup saw viewer ratings soar with over 750 million viewers across the world; a 20 percent increase on the men’s World Cup in 2018. The coverage of the games have inspired a new generation of girls to get involved in football, a
> In Chapter 7 we discussed the white-water rapids view of change, which refers to situations in which unpredictable change is normal and expected and managing it is a continual process. Do you think it’s possible to establish and maintain effective standa
> Why is control important to customer interactions?
> Explain the balanced scorecard approach to evaluating organizational performance.
> What do the two liquidity ratios, current and acid, measure and reveal?
> Discuss the four main workplace discipline problems related to controlling employee performance.
> State the information sources for measuring performance.
> Why is control an essential managerial function in all types of organizations?
> Do the followers make a difference in whether a leader is effective? Discuss.
> Do you think most managers in real life use a contingency approach to increase their leadership effectiveness? Explain.
> Discuss whether a leader can get power from multiple sources.
> One company that appears to be getting it right on the diversity front is L’Oréal, a popular French cosmetics organization founded in 1909, with over 86,000 employees operating across 130 countries. In 2018, the Thomson Reuters Diversity and Inclusion In
> You are a team leader. What are your daily priorities for your team?
> What is the purpose of a charismatic leader’s enthusiasm and self-confidence?
