Tutorial Discussions/Assessment 1
Chapter 1 – Managing Today
1. In today’s environment, which is more important to organizations,
efficiency or effectiveness? Explain your choice.
2. What are the main employability skills gained from studying
management that are applicable to your future career.
3. Business is changing over time, which requires management
methods to evolve. What are the factors that contribute to
management changes?
4. Is there one best “style” of management? Why or why not?
Q3
• New leadership at the helm of the company or within its
departments.
• Shifts in the organizational team structure.
• The implementation of new technology.
• The adoption of new business models
• Effective change requires Vision, Alignment, Resources, Plan, Skill,
Incentives, and Communication
Chapter 2 – Making Decisions
1. Why is decision making often described as the essence of
a manager’s job?
2. What is intuitive decision? What the pros and cons of this
managerial decision-making style?
3. Explain how a manager might deal with making decisions
under conditions of uncertainty’.
4. How does time pressure affect managerial decision
making? Can managers make good decision making under
such conditions?
Chapter 3 – Important Managerial
Issues
1. How do companies take advantage of local and global opportunities
by building suitable organizations? Provide an example from your
country
2. Describe how a manager would approach ethical decisions
according to the three views on ethics.
3. How can organization leaders be good role models when it comes
to ethical behavior.
4. What is workforce diversity, and why is it an important issue for
managers?
Chapter 4 – The Management
Environment
1. Why do managers need an understanding of what happens outside
their organizations? Give examples of how changes in the external
environment affect their jobs.
2. “Businesses are built on relationships.” What do you think this
statement means? What are the implications for managing the
external environment?
3. Discuss why organizational culture plays a major role in business
operations and employee behaviors. Explain its impact on CEOs,
managers, and employees.
4. Discuss the impact of a strong culture on organizations and
managers.
Chapter 5 – Managing Change and
Innovation
1. Why is managing change an integral part of every manager’s job?
2. How are opportunities, constraints, and demands related to stress?
Give an example of each.
3. Every manager deals with change. Discuss, how middle managers
plan organizational development?
4. How does an innovative culture make an organization more
effective? Could an innovative culture ever make an organization
less effective?
Chapter 6 – Planning and Goal Setting
1. Why do business organizations require formal business plans?
2. How would SWOT analysis strengthen the strategic management
process— both externally and internally?
3. What types of plans do manager use, and with examples from the
industry how do they develop those plans?
4. With so much information available in social media, how could
managers determine if the information is reliable and not fake?
Chapter 7 – Structuring and Designing
Organizations
1. Organizational design has shaped management and organization’s
internal environment. Illustrate why the design might be traditional or
contemporary?
2. Compared to the strengths and weaknesses of a functional structure,
what are the strengths and weaknesses of a simple structure?
3. What are the differences between a boundaryless organization and a
structureless organization? Explain with examples.
4. With the availability of information technology that allows employees
to work anywhere, anytime, is organizing still an important
management function?
Chapter 8 – Managing Human
Resources and Diversity
1. Do you think it’s ethical for a prospective employer to delve into an
applicant’s life by means of interviews, tests, and background
investigation? What if investigation involved looking into Facebook page
or personal blogs?
2. Discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the various recruiting sources.
3. What strategies can companies use to retain competent and good
employees?
4. Describe the six types of diversity found in organizations, and how
managers should manage a diverse workforce. Give examples from the
industry.
Chapter 9: Managing Work Groups and
Work Teams
1. Contrast (a) self-managed and cross-functional teams, (b) virtual
and face-to-face teams.
2. All work teams are work groups, are all work groups work teams?
Discuss.
3. With examples from the industry discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of diverse work teams.
4. What challenges do managers face in managing global teams? How
should those challenges be handled?
Chapter 10: Understanding Individual
Behavior
1. Discuss the three job-related attitudes. With examples from the
industry explain how such attitudes contribute to organizational
performances.
2. What is emotional intelligence ? Discuss with examples how it is
used in organizations.
3. Discuss the benefits of using social learning to manage a diversified
workforce in an organization.
Chapter 11: Motivating and Rewarding
Employees
1. What is motivation? Explain the three key elements of motivation.
2. What are some of the possible consequences of employees
perceiving an inequity between their inputs and outcomes and
those of others?
3. As a manager, what will you need to know about goal-setting theory
as a motivational tool?
4. Diverse employees, professionals, and contingent workers are
unique groups of workforce. What challenges do managers face in
motivating these employees?
Chapter 12: Understanding Leadership
1. What behaviors do leaders exhibit that non-leaders do not?
2. “A Leader’s effectiveness depends on their followers’ ability,”
Explain
3. Do you think trust evolves out of an individual’s personal
characteristics or out of specific situations? Explain.
4. How can organizations develop ethical leaders?
Chapter 13: Managing Organizational and
Interpersonal Communication
1. What constitute noise in communication. Do you think noise can be
prevented? Explain.
2. In your opinion, will information technology cause information
overload for managers in future?
3. How might a manager use the grapevine to his/her advantage?
4. Discuss the seven contemporary communication issues facing
managers.
Chapter 14: Controlling Work and
Organizational Process
1. What is the role of control in management?
2. What are the four methods managers can use to acquire
information about actual work performance?
3. Contrast and discuss feedforward, concurrent, and feedback control
in organizations.
4. ‘Every employee in an organization plays a role in controlling work
activities.’ Discuss this statement with supports from industry
examples.