2011管理学课后作业答题要点

Fundamentals of Management

Referential answers for assignments

Chapter 1

2 What four common activities compose the process approach to management?

Briefly describe each of them.

The four common activities are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Explain. (Please refer to page 7-8)

４How does a manager's job change with his/her level in the organization?

The differences are of degree and emphasis but not of activity.

Managers perform planning, organizing, leading, and controlling activities, but the amount of time they give to each activity is not necessarily constant.

The content of the managerial activities changes with the manager's level.

(Please refer to page 10)

3Is your college instructor a manager? Discuss in terms of both planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, and Mintzberg’s managerial roles.

A college instructor is both an individual contributor and a manager. Planning

(defines class goals, establishes plans for achieving them, and develops lesson plans), Organizing(execution and class participation), Leading(motivating students, direct the activities of others, select the most effective communication channel, or resolve conflicts) , Controlling(grading).

Mintzberg’s managerial role: Interpersonal—the roles of leader and liaison.

Informational—monitor and disseminator. Decisional—disturbance handler and resource allocator.

(Please refer to page 7- 9)

Chapter 3

2Under what circumstances are short-term plans preferred? Under what circumstances are specific plans preferred?

Provide basic definition and applicability of them. Short-term plans (length of future commitments and the degree of variability). Specific plans (clarity and predictability).

(Please refer to page 75-76)

5What is a SWOT analysis?

Analysis of an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in order to identify a strategic niche that the organization can exploit.

(Please refer to page 85)

1Organizations that fail to plan are planning to fail. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Explain your position.

Planning provides a framework for thinking through decisions and the future. it does provide direction, measurements of progress, and a framework for judging the success or failure of a venture.

(Please refer to page 72-74)

Chapter 4

3 What is a satisficing decision? How does it differ from a maximizing decision?

The concepts of satisficing decision and maximizing decision.

They are based on different decision making process models (perfect rationality and bounded rationality)

(Please refer to page 106 and 108-110)

4How do creativity, certainty, risk, and uncertainty affect individuals when they make a decision?

Creativity’s most obvious value is in helping the decision maker identify all viable alternatives; individuals can make an accurate or best decision under a condition of certainty; under a condition of risk or uncertainty, they can only make a satisficing decision.

(Please refer to page 104-105)

5Why do you think organizations have increased the use of groups for making decisions during the past twenty years? When would you recommend using groups to make decisions?

Group decisions have many advantages. Depending on the criteria using for defining effectiveness of group decisions.

(Please refer to page 114-115)

Chapter 5

2How are authority and organization structure related? Authority and power?

The definition of authority and power. Authority is part of the larger concept of power. Authority is a two-dimensional concept, while power is a

three-dimensional concept.

(Please refer to page 134-138)

3 In what ways can management departmentalize? When should one method be

considered over the others?

Five ways to departmentalize: function, product, customer, geography, or process.

The method or methods used should reflect the grouping that would best contribute to the attainmen t of the organization’s objectives and the goals of individual units.

(Please refer to page 142)