1. __________ is the management function that establishes the platform for further managerial efforts.
C. Planning
2. __________ is the process of deciding exactly what one wants to accomplish and how to do it.
E. Planning
3. Setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them is the essence of the management function of
D. planning.
4. __________ refer to the specific results or desired outcomes that one intends to achieve.
A. Objectives.
5. Setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them is the essence of the management function of
D. planning.
6. Which of the following is NOT correct regarding the importance of planning?
E. Planning eliminates the need for effective leadership.
7. The role of the planning function in the management process is
C. to set direction.
8. In the planning process, __________ refer to the specific or desired results that one wishes to achieve.
D. objectives
9. __________ is a statement of action steps to be taken in order to accomplish objectives.
D. A plan
10. Which one of the following alternatives lists the planning steps in proper order?
A. Define objectives; determine current standing relative to objectives; develop planning premises; analyse possible action alternatives and choose among them; implement the plan and evaluate results.
11. The planning process is a systematic way of approaching which of the following tasks?
B. A and B.
12. External pressures on planning include all of the following EXCEPT
B. the quest for operating efficiency.
13. Which of the following statements about focus is correct?
D. All of the above
14. Which of the following statements about flexibility is correct?
D. All of the above
15. According to Covey, good planning helps an organisation to be
C. priority oriented, action oriented, advantage oriented, change oriented
16. Scenario planning provides several action orientations for people and organisations. Which one of the following is NOT an action orientation of planning?
C. Planning is management oriented.
17. Scenario planning helps managers and organisations to be more proactive by all of the following EXCEPT
D. ensuring that all passive activity is eliminated.
18. Good planning creates __________ in which objectives at each organisational level are linked together in a means-ends fashion.
B. a hierarchy of aims
19. Which of the following is NOT a good way to avoid interruptions and preserve time for concentration?
C. Involving yourself in routine activity
20. Among the various time management tips offered to managers is the general advice to
E. delegate routine details to other people.
21. Effective __________ involves choices about the allocation of time to the most important priorities.
D. Time management.
22. Good time management includes all of the following except
D. not leaving details for others to address or for later
23. Which of the following statements accurately describes the benefits of planning?
B. a, b, and c.
24. Scenario planning facilitates control by defining the objectives and
C. identifying the specific courses of action to be taken.
25. The __________ and __________ processes work best if objectives are well stated in the first place.
B. planning … control
26. Without __________, __________ lacks a framework for measuring how well things are going and what could be done to improve things.
A. Planning … controlling.
27. Without __________, __________ lacks the follow-through needed to ensure that things work as planned.
E. Controlling. … planning.
28. Which of the following statements accurately describes planning time horizons?
D. All of the above
29. Which of the following are implications of research conducted by Elliot Jaques?
D. All of the above
30. Which level of management spends more time with long-range planning?
C. Top-level managers.
31. __________ keeps making long-range planning shorter and shorter.
A. Internet time.
32. __________ plans address long-term needs and set comprehensive action directions for an organisation or subunit.
D. Strategic
33. __________ plans set broad, comprehensive, and longer-term action directions for the entire organisation.
A. Strategic.
34. Strategic planning begins with
B. vision.
35. A ______________ helps to implement all or parts of a strategic plan.
C. tactical plan
36. Company LMN, a toy manufacturer, has discovered that one of its suppliers has used lead based paint on one of its products. It is the week before Christmas. The executive committee has assembled a team to devise a plan to mitigate the issue. LMN is using
D. tactical planning.
37. All of the following are examples of operational plans except
B. strategic plans
38. Plans that define what needs to be done in specific functions or work units in order to implement strategic plans and achieve strategic objectives are called
B. operational plans.
39. Typical operational plans in a business would include all of the following EXCEPT:
E. dealing with company growth through mergers and acquisitions.
40. Production plans, financial plans, facilities plans, marketing plans, and human resource plans are all examples of __________ plans.
B. operational
41. Typical operational plans in a business would include all of the following EXCEPT
A. dealing with company growth through mergers and acquisitions.
42. How are strategic plans and operational plans related?
E. Strategic plans are developed to address long-term organisational objectives; operational plans implement strategic plans.
43. Production plans, financial plans, facilities plans, marketing plans and human resource plans are all examples of __________ plans.
C. operational
44. A _________ is an example of a single-use plan.
A. monthly operating budget
45. Policies and procedures that are used repeatedly are called
D. standing plans.
46. __________ communicate broad guidelines for making decisions and taking action in specific circumstances.
A. Policies
47. __________ or __________ describe exactly what actions are to be taken in specific situations.
D. Rules procedures.
48. __________ are often found in employee manuals as standard operating procedures.
B. Rules.
49. Which of the following statements BEST distinguishes between procedures and policies?
B. Procedures present a plan of action for specific situations; policies are broad guidelines.
50. When a university issues a statement that it 'will not tolerate sexual harassment in relation to the evaluation of employee or student performance', a __________ plan in the form of an organisational __________ is being communicated.
A. standing … policy
51. Which one of the following statements does NOT accurately describe budgets?
C. Budgets are standing plans.
52. A __________ budget is defined as one that allocates resources to activities based on a single estimate of costs.
D. fixed
53. A __________ budget is defined as one that allocates a fixed amount of resources for a specific purpose.
E. fixed
54. When a project or activity is budgeted in each new budget cycle as if it were brand new, a(n) __________ budgeting approach is being used.
D. zero-based
55. A(n) __________ budget allows the allocation of resources to vary in proportion with various levels of activity.
A. flexible
56. In a chain of discount department stores, personnel needs are estimated in three different ways: (a) for a high demand season, (b) for a moderate demand season, and (c) for a slack season. By taking these three activity levels into account, managers are developing a
B. flexible budget.
57. _________ are single-use plans that identify a set of activities required to accomplish specific major task objectives.
C. Project schedules
58. __________ refer to one-time activities that have clear beginning and end points.
B. Projects.
59. Which one of the following statements does NOT accurately describe a good project schedule?
D. Project schedules do not specify resource requirements.
60. __________ is the process of predicting what will happen in the future.
B. Forecasting.
61. __________ is the process of making assumptions about what will happen in the future and generating a specific vision of the future.
C. Forecasting
62. Using the opinions of persons with special expertise to make predictions about the future is called
B. qualitative forecasting.
63. Using mathematical and statistical analyses of historical data and surveys to predict future events is called
D. quantitative forecasting.
64. Which of the following statements about forecasting is NOT true?
D. Forecasting is an effective and efficient substitute for planning.
65. Planning that identifies alternative courses of action that can be implemented, if and when an original plan proves inadequate due to changing circumstances, is called
E. contingency planning.
66. Which of the following statements about contingency planning is FALSE?
C. Contingency planning occurs when planners decide the future will be identical to the past.
67. __________ is a long-term version of contingency planning.
E. Scenario planning.
68. Identifying alternative future states of affairs that may occur and then developing plans to deal with each case should it actually occur is known as
B. scenario planning.
69. Royal Dutch/Shell uses scenario planning to explore what the company would do if and when its oil supplies run out. For Royal Dutch/Shell, the benefits of scenario planning include which of the following?
D. All of the above
70. The purpose of __________ is to find out what others are doing very well and to incorporate these ideas into one's own operations.
E. benchmarking
71. __________ is a technique that makes use of external comparisons to better evaluate one's current performance and identify possible actions for the future.
D. Benchmarking
72. __________ is a planning technique that makes use of external comparisons to determine practices used by best-in-class companies in an effort to improve performance and identify possible actions for the future.
E. Benchmarking
73. __________ refer to those things that are done by both competitors and noncompetitors that enable them to achieve superior performance.
C. Best practices
74. __________ are individuals who lead and coordinate the planning function for an organisation as a whole or for one of its major components.
C. Staff planners
75. The job of a staff planner does NOT include
B. assisting managers in implementing plans.
76. An important risk associated with the use of staff planners is the __________ that can develop between staff planners and line managers.
D. communication gap
77. __________ is a structured process of regular communication in which a supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team members jointly set performance objectives and review results accomplished.
D. Management by objectives (MBO)
78. In management by objectives (MBO), the supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team members formally agree on all of the following except
B. procedures for distributing rewards based on performance results.
79. In a management by objectives approach, the supervisor/team leader and subordinates/team members
B. jointly plan, individually act, and jointly control.
80. In management by objectives (MBO), the objectives that are agreed on by the supervisor/team leader and the subordinates/team members can involve
D. all of the above.
81. On those jobs where performance is difficult to quantify, performance objectives can be stated as
C. verifiable work activities.
82. Which of the following is not one of the advantages of management by objectives (MBO)?
A. MBO clearly focuses a person's work efforts on the activities that are likely to result in the greatest rewards.
83. __________ requires that the planning process include people who will be affected by the resulting plans and/or will be asked to help implement them.
D. Participatory planning.
84. The use of participatory planning can produce all of the following benefits EXCEPT
