Penn Foster Principles of Management Final Exam Essay

1. In order to implement an organizations commitment to social responsibility it is necessary to identify what social problem the organization intends to address, develop policies on what the organization plans to do to successfully fulfill its obligation and ensure stakeholder buy-in. The main obstacles an organization faces when implementing socially responsible policies is pressure from stockholders and business analysis who want steady increase in earnings. Without steady increase in profits, it becomes difficult to reinvest money in these areas. The following actions can be taken toward increased social responsibility: 1. Examine expectations and past responses 2. Set objectives and prioritize 3. Plan and implement strategies 4. Set budgets for resources needed for social action 5. Monitor progress 2. Departmentalization is the practice in which grouping or combining jobs that are related to form a specialized area that is distinct from other areas in an organization. Work or functional departmentalization is a method of separating the activities performed within an organization into groups by the nature or function of the work they perform. For example, functional departmentalization would tend to group together staff members that perform a specialized function in an organization, like accounting. Product departmentalization is the grouping of business activities that are necessary to produce a particular product and/or market a product or service line under the direction of one manager. An example of product departmentalization would be a large multiproduct organization like an automotive distributor. Geographic departmentalization is when organizations are physically isolated to geographical regions. An example of geographical departmentalization is a manufacturing company that has locations in Northern and Southern locations that deal with consumers within their region. Customer departmentalization is when an organization is divided into units that handle specific customer needs. Examples of customer departmentalization in a manufacturing plant are: Assembly, shipping, billing, etc. 3. The acronym SWOT stands for an organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis is strategic planning method that evaluates the internal and external performance of an organization to see if it’s favorable or unfavorable to achieve whatever objective you are set out to accomplish. Strengths and weaknesses usually arise from the internal aspect of an organization, whereas opportunities and threats evolve from external components. By performing a SWOT analysis it provides information to managers to help formulate a successful strategy to achieve goals. PART B 1. Six Sigma is a management philosophy that sets objectives, collects data and analyzes results as a way to remove wasted expenses from its processes and help reduce the number of defective products produced. Six Sigma uses quality measures to strive for near perfection by eliminating errors and variables. 2. The balance of trade is the point where the difference between exports and imports is favorable for the country. When the country imports more than it exports, it results in a trade deficit and when the country exports more than it imports, the country runs into a trade surplus. The balance of trade for a countries economy is a very fine balance. The economic condition can change and a deficit or surplus may be an ideal situation. 3. In the context of communication, perception is based on the individual that is on the receiving end of the information. Perception is a process in which stimulation of the senses, whether written, verbal or non-verbal, is translated into a meaningf ul experience. Each person perceives the same information differently and they tend to only listens to part of the message before perception distorts the intended message. 4. The term organizational decentralization refers to the increased amount of authority given to lower level management by upper level management. By allowing lower level management to be involved in decision making, it enables actions to happen in a timelier manner and promotes higher employee morale, as well as relieves upper management from time consuming projects. 5. Simon’s theory, principle of bounded rationality as it applies to satisficing can be summarized as a decision making strategy that selects the best alternative rather than continuing to search for the optimal solution to any given situation. 6. In relations to leadership, consideration and initiating structure both contribute positively to staff motivation and satisfaction, as well as, effectiveness. 7. Positive reinforcement is to add a positive outcome as a result of a desired behavior. Negative reinforcement is to give the person the opportunity to avoid a negative consequence by increasing the likelihood that the desired behavior will reoccur. Both are used to increase the frequency of the desired behavior. 8. Planning – The manager sets objectives and decided what needs to be done to meet those goals. Organizing – The manager divides work into manageable activities and selects people to accomplish the task that need to be done. Staffing – The manager determines how many and what kind of staff is needed to meet the organizations goals and then recruits and trains the appropriate people. Leading – The manager motivates and communicates with staff and also directs them towards meeting the organizational goals. Controlling – The manager measures and analyzes the organizations performance, and makes changes if financial standards are not being m et. 9. A manager would use the critical-incident appraisal method for assessing employees’ written record of both satisfactory and unsatisfactory work performances. Performance is documented as it occurs and can aid in preparing performance evaluations to identify strengths and areas that need improvement. 10. Group norm is an informal set of rules a group takes on to regulate group behavior, whereas group cohesiveness is the overall attraction each member has for the group. Group norm example: Employees that work on assembly line #1 at the local factory always sit at the same lunch table and don’t interact with others. Group cohesiveness example: Employees on assembly line #2 have beaten the monthly production record for the 10th month in a row.