DON’T FORGET THAT

ANSWERS SHOULD BE SUPPORTED BY THE INFORMATION

EXPLAINED & FOUND ON THE PRESENTATION SLIDES

1. You have just been hired as the new supervisor of an audit team for a national
accounting firm. With four years of experience, you feel technically well prepared for
the assignment. However, this is your first formal appointment as a "manager." Things
are complicated at the moment. The team has 12 members, of diverse demographic
and cultural backgrounds, as well as work experience. There is an intense workload
and lots of performance pressure.
How will this situation challenge you to develop and use essential managerial skills
and related competencies to successfully manage the team to high levels of auditing
performance?
2. Enrique Temoltzin has just been appointed the new manager of your local college
bookstore. Enrique would like to make sure the store operates according to Weber's
bureaucracy. Describe the characteristics of bureaucracy and answer this question: is
the bureaucracy a good management approach for Enrique to follow? Discuss the
possible limitations of bureaucracy and the implications for managing people as key
assets of the store.
3. A small outdoor clothing company has just received an attractive offer from a business
in Bangladesh to manufacture its work gloves. The offer would allow for substantial
cost savings over the current supplier. The company manager, however, has read
reports that some Bangladeshi businesses break their own laws and operate with child
labor. How would differences in the following corporate responsibility strategies
affect the manager's decision regarding whether to accept the offer: obstruction,
defense, accommodation, and proaction?
4. Two businesswomen, former college roommates, are discussing their jobs and careers
over lunch. You overhear one saying to the other, "I work for a large corporation,
while you own a small retail business. In my company there is a strong corporate
culture and everyone feels its influence. In fact, we are always expected to act in ways
that support the culture and serve as role models for others to do so as well. This
includes a commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. Because of the small size of
your firm, things like corporate culture, diversity, and multiculturalism are not so
important to worry about." Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
5. What problems might a manager from a high Power Distance culture have working
with a team from a low Power Distance culture?
6. Kim has just returned from her first business trip to Japan. While there, she was
impressed with the use of quality circles and work teams. Now back in lowa, she
would like to start the same practices in her canoe-manufacturing company of 75
employees. Based on the discussion of culture and management in the session, what
advice would you offer Kim?
7. What is 'Industry 4.0' and what will it mean for businesses?
8. Assume for the moment that you have a great idea for a potential Internet-based
startup business. in discussing the idea with a friend, she advises you to be very
careful to tie your business idea to potential customers and then describe it well in a
business plan: "After all, she says, "you won't succeed without customers and you'll
never get a chance to succeed if you can't attract financial backers through a good
business plan." With these words to the wise, you proceed. What questions will you
 ask and answer to ensure that you are customer-focused in this business? What are the
major areas that you would address in writing your initial business plan?
9. Kim Harris owns and operates a small retail store selling the outdoor clothing of an
American manufacturer to a predominately college student market. Lately, a large
department store outside of town has started selling similar but lower-priced clothing
manufactured in China, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Kim believes he is starting to lose
business to this store. Assume you are part of a student team assigned to do a
management class project for Kim. His question for the team is: "How can I best deal
with my strategic management challenges in this situation?" How will you reply?
10. Two business women, former college roommates, are discussing their jobs and careers
over lunch. You overhear one saying to the other: "I work for a large corporation. It is
bureaucratic and very authority driven. However, I have to say that it is also very
successful. I like working there: Her friend responded: "My, I wouldn't like working
there at all. In my organization things are very flexible and the structures are loose.
We have a lot of freedom and the focus on operations is much more horizontal than
vertical. And we, too, are very successful. After listening to the conversation and using
insights from management theory, how can these two very different "success stories"
be explained?
11. When Marcel Henry took over as leader of a new product development tear, he was
both excited and apprehensive. “I wonder," he said to himself on the first day in his
new assignment, "If I can meet the challenges of leadership." Later that day, Marcel
shares this concern with you during a coffee break. Based on the insights of this
chapter, how would you describe to him the implications for his personal leadership
development of current thinking on transformational leadership and moral leadership?
12. How can a manager combine the powers of goal setting and positive reinforcement to
create a highly motivational work environment for a group of workers with high needs
for achievement?
13. As a newly appointed manager in any work setting. you are likely to spot many things
that could be done better and to have many "now ideas" that you would like to
implement. Based on the ideas presented in the leadership chapter, how should you go
about effecting successful planned change in such situations?
14. (a) Who are an organization’s stakeholders and what is the basis for their legitimacy?
(b) Why should managers pay attention to stakeholders?
15. Is Corporate Social Responsibility an oxymoron? Why or why not?
16. Explain Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions.
17. Explain the managerial skills.
18. Explain Weber’s Bureaucracy Theory.
19. Define leader and leadership. Describe the three major contingency theories of
leadership.
20. Explain the traditional organization structures.