Management Exam Preparation Essay Example

with the organization and has a direct impact on its goals.

The firm's environment can be divided into specific and general factors. The specific environment directly impacts the firm's daily operations, while the general environment indirectly influences it. In the case of a Barbie doll toyshop, changes in its external environment are observed. Within the specific environment, challenges arise from shifts in customer buying patterns and higher prices from its main plastic supplier. Moreover, parents now favor educational and electronic toys over traditional plastic figurine dolls. Consequently, the Barbie doll toyshop is encountering a decline in sales and a loss of customers.

In addition, the toyshop is facing an increase in the price of plastic from its main suppliers. This increase is attributed to a new government tax on pollution generated by plastic manufacturers. As a result, the toyshop's production costs will rise, affecting its ability to generate higher revenue. Additionally, the toyshop's general environment is also experiencing changes. For instance, the toyshop is located in Australia, where the country's economic condition is at risk of recession. Furthermore, the government has implemented a new pollution tax policy specifically for toy manufacturers.

The toyshop is at a greater risk of decreased sales because of the unfavorable economic conditions. Moreover, the introduction of a new pollution tax has led to an increase in production costs. Now, we will examine and assess four categories of stakeholders within an organization and their impact on its decision-making process. Stakeholders are individuals or groups external to the organization who are affected by its actions and choices. These stakeholders have a vested interest in or are strongly influenced by the activities of

the organization.

The stakeholders in an organization, including employees, shareholders, suppliers, and customers, have different priorities. Employees are concerned about salaries, job security, job satisfaction, and motivation. Their actions impact the company's performance through activities like strikes that affect service quality and staff turnover. If employees are dissatisfied with how they're treated by the organization, it may lead to industrial action and harm the company's reputation. Shareholders prioritize profit growth, share price growth, and dividends while also having influence over director elections.

Suppliers prioritize long-term contracts, prompt payment, and purchasing growth. Their impact on the organization includes pricing, quality, and product availability. If suppliers increase prices, it will result in higher expenses for the business and potentially affect profitability. Therefore, management must adapt cost-control measures and revise planning efforts accordingly. Conversely, customers desire dependable quality, value for their money, product availability, and excellent customer service. They have the ability to influence the organization's success by generating revenue through repeat purchases and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Encouraging positive customer word of mouth can lead to increased revenue for the organization as satisfied customers share their experiences with colleagues and close relatives, expanding the customer base. Additionally, promoting ethical behavior among employees is crucial for an organization. Managers should prioritize achieving company goals and fostering positive work relationships while also emphasizing ethical conduct. Ethical behavior helps maintain a reputable image for the business, embodies the company's mission, and upholds professional principles and values.

There are various methods to encourage ethical behavior among employees.

Managers should schedule regular sessions on ethics and ethical dilemmas to ensure employees comply with the company's code of ethics and grasp its significance. By providing

thorough training, abundant resources, and highlighting the importance of ethical behavior, managers can establish clear expectations for employees in the workplace.

To foster ethical behavior in employees, companies should proactively encourage and support it. A key method is through managers who exemplify and endorse the significance of ethics. An effective strategy entails providing incentives for outstanding ethical conduct. For example, if an employee consistently prioritizes clients' interests above personal benefits, their actions should be acknowledged as ethical behavior and duly rewarded. This recognition can inspire others to do the same.

When employees are given incentives to make ethical decisions, it is more probable that the masses will also follow suit.

Establishing ethical standards in a company is crucial and the role of managers is key. Managers are looked up to by employees, so maintaining high ethical standards is important. This credibility allows managers to effectively communicate expectations and encourage staff members to do the same. Regular discussions with employees are important to address any potential ethical issues that may arise and find collaborative solutions. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and promotes ethical behaviors within the company. Additionally, focusing on work-life balance can contribute to making good ethical decisions at work. Managers should pay attention to signs of burnout or discontent among staff members and take proactive steps to address these issues. Lastly, managing and leading are different approaches when it comes to organizing people; leadership involves setting a new direction or vision for a group as the spearhead for change.

The text discusses the difference between management and leadership. It explains that management involves directing people/resources in a group based on

established principles or values, using a formal and rational method. In contrast, leadership involves using passion and emotion to inspire others to follow. Leaders are followed willingly and naturally due to their charisma and personality traits, while managers are obeyed because of their formal authority. As a result, people tend to be more loyal towards leaders than managers.

Furthermore, the text poses two questions: 1) What contribution can Human Resource Management (HARM) make to organization effectiveness? and 2) How do feed-forward, concurrent, and feedback control contrast with each other?

The text discusses various types of control that can be used to measure organizational performance. The most desirable type is feed-forward control, which aims to prevent anticipated problems by taking action before the actual activity occurs. However, a major challenge is obtaining timely and accurate information. For example, SST. Josephs hospital in West Bend, Indiana, implemented feed-forward control by designing a new facility with identical rooms, nonsolid moors, and glass walls to reduce errors in patient care and increase employee safety. Another type of control discussed is concurrent control, which occurs during an activity.

When control occurs during work, management can identify and address problems before they become expensive. For instance, the principal observed the grounds and classes, engaging with teachers in their classrooms and interacting with students to understand how the learning programs are affecting them. When a manager directly supervises employees, they can monitor their actions and rectify issues as they arise. Feedback control, the most commonly used type of control, relies on feedback.

Feedback control is a post-activity process that provides managers with valuable information about the success of their planning efforts and can

also boost employee motivation by providing them with a measure of their performance. For instance, when Denver Mint identified faulty Wisconsin quarters, it used feedback control to address the issue. Despite rectifying the problem, the damage had already been done. Choose one essay question from the following sections (each section is worth 20 marks).

What is the role of planning in an organization?

Is planning worth the effort? B: Could you please clarify what a SOOT analysis is and describe how it fits into the planning process? A: Planning involves creating a framework for the future and determining the desired actions and responsible individuals for specific tasks. There are various types of plans designed to achieve specific goals or serve as comprehensive strategies. Every plan should be associated with objectives. Managers engage in planning to drive organizational goal attainment. Planning assists individuals in focusing their efforts on crucial tasks, rather than wasting time on less significant work.

The purpose of planning is to minimize the cost of performance and eliminate unproductive efforts. It helps management adjust to changes in the environment and provides a basis for teamwork. When goals are properly defined, assignments can be fixed and all members can contribute to achieving these objectives. Planning provides direction and ensures efforts are not wasted.

Planning is necessary for control as control cannot exist without a plan.

When formulating a strategy, it is common to start by evaluating the internal and external factors that will impact the organization's competitive position. One method for this assessment is conducting a SWOT analysis which examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that affect organizational performance. The external environment, including opportunities

and threats, can be identified through various sources such as customers, government reports, professional journals, suppliers, bankers, colleagues in other organizations, consultants, or escalation meetings.

Numerous organizations are using various methods to provoke special scanning organizations on the Nile River. These methods include providing them with newspaper clippings, conducting Internet research, and analyzing relevant domestic global trends. Furthermore, many companies are employing competitive intelligence reversionary to assess their competitors. Executives gather information about internal strengths and weaknesses from a range of reports, which include budgets, financial ratios, profit and loss statements, as well as surveys of employee attitudes and satisfaction.

Executives gather valuable information about the company's internal strengths and weaknesses by engaging in face-to-face discussions and meetings with individuals at every level of the hierarchy. This understanding allows the company to strategically enhance its strengths, address vulnerabilities, pursue opportunities, and defend against threats by analyzing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

A: To differentiate social and/or national culture from organizational culture, consider how organizational culture is developed, observed, and retained.

B: Four of Hypotheses 5 dimensions of national culture can be identified and examples of implications for these four dimensions in global management can be given. The first dimension is Power Distance. In countries with high power distance, such as Malaysia, people accept inequality in power among institutions, organizations, and individuals. This can be seen in the way employees in high PDP countries may send reports only to top management and participate in closed-door meetings where only selected powerful leaders are present.

Uncertainty Avoidance.

High uncertainty avoidance reflects the discomfort and desire for certainty and conformity in a society. Conversely, low uncertainty

avoidance indicates a higher tolerance for ambiguity and unpredictability. When dealing with individuals from Belgium, a country with high uncertainty avoidance, it is important for employees to explore different options and present a limited number of choices. However, detailed information on contingency and risk plans should be readily available. Individualism refers to a preference for a loosely connected social network where individuals are responsible for themselves. On the other hand, collectivism emphasizes close-knit social structures where individuals support one another and organizations safeguard their members' interests. In countries like Panama and Guatemala, which have low individualism, a marketing campaign focusing on community benefits or aligning with popular political movements would likely be well-received. Masculinity embodies values such as achievement, heroism, assertiveness, work centrality, and material success. Femininity, in contrast, prioritizes relationships, cooperation, group decision-making, and quality of life. Japan is considered a highly masculine country.

If an office is opened in Japan, it is likely to have a successful IT team with a strong male presence.

A: Differentiate between content theories and process theories of motivation and provide one specific example for each.

B: Is money a motivator? Compare and contrast the role of money as a motivator in each of the motivational theories.
A: Content theories, such as Maslow's and Herzberg's, focus on the satisfaction of needs. They aim to explain what specific factors actually motivate individuals at work. These theories identify people's needs, their strengths, and the goals they pursue to fulfill these needs. Content theories emphasize the nature of needs and the factors that motivate them.

The text highlights the common assumption that everyone responds similarly to motivational pressures and suggests that

there is a universally effective way to motivate people. These theories offer managers a set of guidelines to follow in order to boost productivity. Process theories, for instance, prioritize the significance of rewards and aim to explain how individuals initiate, maintain, and guide behavior in order to meet their needs or alleviate internal tension. These theories focus on the actual motivational process.

Process theories aim to explain behavior by identifying key variables and examining how they are interconnected in determining the direction, level, and duration of effort. In these models, the primary variables are incentive, drive, reinforcement, and expectancy. Money is widely recognized as a significant motivator, whether it takes the form of wages, piecework, incentive pay, bonuses, stock options, company-paid insurance, or other rewards given for performance. Economists, accountants, and many managers consider money to be a central motivating factor.

Behavioral scientists tend to rank money low as a motivator, but this view may not apply universally. Money, in the form of pay, can be a powerful motivator and aligns with theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. When considering money as a motivator, it is important to acknowledge its impact at two levels. Firstly, money is valuable due to its purchasing power rather than its mere existence. Secondly, money serves as an indicator of status. Money possesses unique qualities that can influence workers in various ways.

Having money is of greater significance for individuals striving to establish their initial standard of living as opposed to those who have already achieved it. If a company's primary objective revolves around eliminating work by means of automation and computerization, the value of work diminishes and it merely

becomes an activity pursued for financial gain.

Most organizations utilize money as a means to ensure sufficient staffing rather than as a motivator.

The use of salary grades and comparability of earnings is promoted to achieve apparent fairness.

Financial incentives have different strengths and effects on individuals, depending on their specific circumstances. Various studies have demonstrated that money is not the sole or primary motivator.

A: Examine the main characteristics of mechanistic and organic structure.
B: Identify the key contingency factors that determine the most suitable form.

Mechanistic structure is a type of organizational structure characterized by highly centralized authority, formalized procedures and practices, and specialized functions. This structure makes it relatively easier and simpler to organize, but it also presents challenges in adapting to rapid change. In mechanistic organizations, employees generally work separately and focus on their individually assigned tasks. There is a clear chain of command, and decisions are made at the highest possible level. Communication primarily occurs between managers, supervisors, and executives, with limited daily interaction.

In mechanistic organization structures, there are stringent company policies and extensive documentation, making it a more stable system compared to organic structures. Such companies exercise strict control over processes and employees, adhering to and rarely deviating from rules. Additionally, a clear chain of command is in place to delegate responsibilities and power within the organization. Although manufacturing companies are commonly associated with this structure, other groups such as universities can also benefit from a mechanistic organization model.

Organic organizations are distinguished by three main characteristics. Firstly, they operate with flatness, meaning that communications and interactions occur on a horizontal level. Secondly, organic organizations have low specialization, with knowledge

being located wherever it is most beneficial. Finally, these organizations prioritize decentralization, encouraging both formal and informal participation in decision-making processes. Within organic organizations, employees often collaborate in groups and provide input on tasks. Tasks are typically handled by teams. Communication is open between employees, managers, and executives, although executives are usually considered the final decision-makers. There is a higher degree of verbal communication between all parties involved.

In an organic organization structure, there is increased face-to-face interaction within the power hierarchy. These companies encourage open communication and contribution to tasks. The structure is adaptable and flexible, allowing for better management of an unpredictable environment. Google and Faceable Corporation are prominent examples of this type of structure. Organic organizations have recognized that a contented workplace leads to satisfied employees.

For Paper 2, you must select six short answer questions, and each question is worth ten marks.

Robert Katz identified three core management skill groups that managers need in order to be successful: technical, human and conceptual. Technical skill refers to the understanding and proficiency in specific tasks, including mastery of methods, techniques, and equipment used in functions like engineering, manufacturing, or enhancement. Katz's management contribution lies in his recognition of these skill groups. An example of how Katz's ideas are still relevant today is the importance placed on technical expertise in job descriptions and hiring processes.

The text highlights the significance of not just having expertise and analytical skills, but also being proficient in utilizing tools and techniques to address issues in a particular field. It illustrates this through the story of Bruce Moravia, a manufacturing engineer at Boeing. Despite possessing technical knowledge, Moravia had

to rely on his interpersonal abilities when leading a team that was designing a new fuselage for the Boeing 757. The text defines human skill as a manager's capacity to collaborate with others and effectively organize within a group.

The manager's abilities in interacting with others, such as motivating, facilitating, coordinating, leading, communicating, and resolving conflicts demonstrate their skill. A manager with strong human skills allows subordinates to express themselves without fear and encourages participation. An example is a CEO who is both compassionate and firm, working alongside subordinates and motivating them towards a common goal. Conceptual skill refers to the cognitive ability of perceiving the organization holistically and understanding the connections between its parts.

The process involves a manager's thinking, information processing, and planning abilities. Microsoft, led by Bill Gates, serves as an illustration of this concept. The company's clear business goals and effective communication have contributed to its leadership position and billion-dollar revenues. Furthermore, the economic dimension relates to the overall economic health of the country or region where an organization operates, which can affect the organization in multiple ways.

Managers face increasing complexity and uncertainty in the economic environment of organizations. This is mainly due to the interconnectedness of economies in today's global landscape, which includes factors like consumer purchasing power, unemployment rate, and interest rates. A clear example of this complexity occurred in the early 2000s when the economic recession and decline in consumer confidence in the United States had a significant global impact on economies and organizations.

The impact of the economic problems in Asia and Europe on companies and the stock market in the United States has been immense.