MP Oct 2012 Tutorial Questions W1 - W14

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN (UTAR)

FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE (FBF)

OCT 2012 TRIMESTER

UBMM1013/UKMM1013

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) (BA)Bachelor of Science (Hons) Biomedical Science (BM)

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Biochemistry (BE)Bachelor of Science (Hons) Biotechnology (BT)

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Chemistry (CE)Bachelor of Science (Hons) Microbiology (MB)

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Agricultural Science (AG)Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) Communications & Networking (CN)

Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) Computer Engineering (CT)Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) Information System Engineering (IA)

Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) (CS)Bachelor of Information Systems (Hons) Business Information Systems (IB)

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Quantity Surveying (QS) Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Materials & Manufacturing Engineering (MM)

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Software Engineering (SE) Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Mechanical Engineering (ME)

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Civil Engineering (CI)Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) (AT)

UBMM1013/UKMM1013 Management Principles (October 2012)CONFIDENTIAL – FOR TUTOR USE ONLY

Tutorial 1: General Introduction

1. Self introduction by tutors and student. Explanation on Unit Plan.2. Specify expectations in tutorial class.3. Team formation for group assignment. Briefing on group assignment to students.4. Class activity: A first step in understanding human behaviour and the successful

management of other people is to know and understand yourself. For this simple exercise you are asked to select any of the following shapes that you feel is ‘YOU’.

After you have made your selection process, discuss with the person next to you the reason which prompted you to choose that particular shape. How much agreement is there among you and your partner.

of 12


Tutorial 2: (Topic 1: Managers and Management)

Discussion Questions

1. Define management and managers and characterize their importance to contemporary organizations.

2. Are all effective organizations also efficient? Discuss. If you had to choose between being effective or being efficient, which one would you say is more important? Why?

3. Interpersonal skills are one of skills and competencies do managers need. Why this skill is very vital for managers? Explain.

5. Why Are Customers Important to the Manager’s Job?

6. Is there one best “style” of management? Why or why not?

Tutorial 3: (Topic 2: Integrative Managerial Issues)


1. What do managers need to know about managing in a global organization?

2.“Once an organization has been doing business internationally for a while and has gained experience in international markets, managers may decide to make more of a significant global investment”.

List and explain the approaches the organization may use to go global under the situation as described above. Your answer should also include an example for each of the approaches.

3.What is sustainability, and how can organizations practice it?

4. What is workforce diversity and why is it an important issue for managers?

5. Discuss how generational differences affecting the way organizations managed.

of 12


Tutorial 4: (Topic 3: Foundations of Decision Making)


1. List and explain the first 4 steps in the decision making process. Give an example of each step.

2. From the diagram below, describe the relationship among types of problems, types of decisions and level in the organization.

3. Why do you think organizations have increased the use of groups for making decisions? When would you recommend using groups to make decisions?

4. Why do you think decision making is considered a fundamental part of management effectiveness?

5. Why is Creativity Important in Decision Making?

of 12


Tutorial 5: (Topic 4: Foundations of Planning)


1. Although it makes sense for an organization to establish goals and direction, critics have challenged some of the basic consumptions of planning. Describe the four criticisms of formal planning

2. “Organizations that fail to plan are planning to fail”. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your position.

3. Write a brief mission statement for a business with which you are familiar. How might having a clear, written mission statement benefit the organization?

4. What is a SWOT analysis and why is it important to managers?

5. If you were a top manager of a medium-sized real estate sales agency, would you use MBO? If so, give examples of goals you might set for managers and sales agents.

Tutorial 6: (Topic 5: Organizational Structure and Culture)


1. Explain the contingency factors that affect organizational design.

2. Can an organization’s structure be changed quickly? Why or why not? Should it be changed quickly? Why or why not?

3. The business world today is increasingly complex and variable, in virtually every country and industry. Thus organizations must become more organic. What are some of the outcomes that companies will experience as they become more organic and less mechanistic? Be sure to include both positive and negative outcomes.

4. Compare and contrast the matrix organization and the team organization telling about any similarities and differences.

of 12


5. What is work specialization? Discuss the advantages and drawbacks for the organization when use this type of job design.

Tutorial 7: (Topic 6: Managing Human Resources)


1. Describe how organizations develop an effective workforce through training and performance appraisal.

2. How might the human resource activities of recruiting, performance appraisal, and compensation be related to corporate strategy?

3. Describe strategies for retaining competent, high-performing employees.

4. What, in your view, constitutes sexual harassment? Describe how companies can minimize sexual harassment in the workplace.

6. List and explain the characteristics of a spiritual organization.

of 12


Tutorial 8: (Topic 7: Managing Change and Innovation)

CASE STUDY – Lenovo: Eye On Talent

Mergers and acquisitions mark a challenging time for HR. When China’s largest PC manufacturer Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC division in 2005, many questions arose. Employees were concerned about job security, changes in work structures and job scope. Another major concern for employees was how they were going to assimilate into the new corporate culture. “Many ex-IBM staff who crossed over were worried about fitting in with new colleagues from Lenovo, since it is a Chinese company,” Tan Aim Sim, HR Director, ASEAN, Lenovo says. Employees also wanted to know if there would be any changes in compensation and benefits as well as HR policies. The acquisition by Lenovo saw some 50% of its new workforce coming from IBM. “That’s a large number, given that in 2005, Singapore was also the Asia Pacific headquarters of the new Lenovo company globally,” Tan says. The local office subsequently became its ASEAN headquarters after a period of corporate re-structuring.

The HR team at Lenovo had to ensure that smooth transitions were made in different areas during the acquisition. Clear communication was critical during this period. Management and HR conducted sharing sessions with affected staff from both the companies to ensure that actions were being communicated directly to them instead of through a communication chain that might lead to misinterpretations. “These sessions also provided a channel for staff to provide feedback and share concerns,” Tan says.

Lenovo decided to adopt IBM’s benefits for employees who were making the cross-over. “We chose to do this to help allay some of the concerns employees felt,” Tan says. This helped to reassure them that they will continue to fit into the new structure. According to Tan, this also showed employees that the acquisition was not about making roles redundant since the company was taking best practices from IBM.

Lenovo also created programmes like ‘New World New Thinking’ and ‘Managing Across Cultures’ to help managers cope with the changes as well as give them guidance on managing diversity in their teams. These focused on multi-cultural and cross-cultural differences and ways of handling them. To promote better integration, Lenovo also offered Mandarin classes to new employees so that they could communicate better with their Chinese colleagues.

Some six years after the acquisition, Lenovo faces a different type of HR challenge today. Its hiring needs are evolving. Stiff competition for talent has made Lenovo adopt a more proactive approach towards recruitment. In a process known as “talent mapping,” Lenovo partners with HR vendors to actively identify new areas where it can source for employees. Lenovo also practices hiring through word of mouth. In fact, some 50% of the hiring at the company is done through referrals. Employees are given vouchers or cash rewards for successful placements. The firm also taps on social media platforms like LinkedIn to source for candidates. The economy is looking up and the market is swinging in favor of job seekers. This also means that competitors are on the prowl to attract your best talent, says Tan. Understanding this, Lenovo keeps a close watch over its key talent. The profiles and progress of high-potential employees is regularly discussed at CEO-level meetings to determine how the organization can help them grow and succeed. To this end, Lenovo conducts the Accelerated

of 12


Leadership Programme for Hi-Potentials in ASEAN (ALPHA) to groom its top-performing employees. The three-day course focuses on areas like communications and coaching skills as well as change management in an organization. Every employee at Lenovo has an individual development plan that identifies their learning and development goals. The organization also encourages job rotation so that employees can develop a better sense of their strengths and abilities.

Adapted from:Selvaretnam, S.V. (2011). Lenovo: Eye on Talent. HRM Asia. Retrieved February 11, 2012,

from: http://www.hrmasia.com/site-search/lenovo-eye-on-talent/83154/

1. Identify which technique is being used by Lenovo to reduce resistance to change among employees? Support your answer with the evidence from the case study.

2. Based on your answer from Q1 (a) (i), identify one advantage and one drawback of this technique.

3. Identify one reason why people might resist to organizational change. Support your answer by providing several evidences from the case study.

4. Describe the three areas of organizational change. Based on the case study, identify which area of organizational change had been occurred. Support your answer with evidence.

of 12


Tutorial 9: (Topic 8: Foundations of Individual Behavior)


1. Explain the challenges facing managers in managing generational differences and negative behavior in the workplace.

2. Define the components of emotional intelligence and explain why they are important for today’s managers.

3. In the Big Five personality factors, extroversion is considered a “good” quality to have. Why might introversion be an equally positive quality?

4. Describe the implications of social learning theory for managing people at work.

5. Explain the challenges facing managers in managing generational differences and negative behavior in the workplace.

Tutorial 10: (Topic 9: Understanding Groups and Managing Work Teams)


1. To have a successful team, first find a great leader.” What do you think of this statement? Do you agree? Why or why not?

2. Contrast (a) self-managed and cross-functional teams and (b) virtual and face-to-face teams.

of 12


Tutorial 11: (Topic 10: Motivating and Rewarding Employees)


1. Most of us have to work for a living and a job is a central part of our lives. So why do managers have to worry so much about employee motivation issues?

2. What role would money play in (a) the hierarchy of needs theory, (b) equity theory, (c) expectancy theory, and (d) motivating employees with a high nAch? How do needs affect motivation?

Tutorial 12: (Topic 11: Leadership and Trust)


1. Define leadership and explain its importance for organizations.

2. Define task-oriented behavior and people-oriented behavior and explain how these categories are used to evaluate and adapt leadership style.

3. Describe transformational leadership and when it should be used.

Tutorial 13: (Topic 12: Communication and Interpersonal Skills)

Discussion Questions 1. Explain why communication is essential for effective management, and describe the communication process.

2. How are electronic communication devices (cell phones, e-mail, and websites) likely to affect the communication process in the future? Describe both the advantages and the disadvantages of these three devices over traditional communication methods, such as face-to-face conversations, written notes, and phone calls.

3. Which do you think is more important for a manager: speaking accurately or listening actively? Why?

4. How might a manager use the grapevine to his or her advantage? Support your response.

5. Which type of communication do you think is most effective in a work setting? Why?

of 12


Tutorial 14: (Topic 13: Foundations of Control)

Case Study: Off Course

Just after midnight on March 22, 2006, the Queen of the North ferry, part of the BC Ferries system, hit rocks off Gill Island, south of Prince Rupert. It was immediately clear that the ferry was in trouble and within 15 minutes, all the passengers and crew were off the ship and in the ferry’s lifeboats. As local townspeople and the Coast Guard rescued the passengers from the lifeboats, the ferry sank, a little more than an hour after first striking the rocks. Initial media reports celebrated the fact that all 99 passengers and crew had managed to get off the ferry safely. The crew was widely praised for conducting an orderly evacuation, something employees practice and train for at regular intervals.

On day two, passengers were reported missing. While international maritime regulations require that ferries record identifying information about all passengers (name, gender and whether they are adults, children or infants), the Canadian government doesn’t require BC’s ferry fleet to meet international standards. Passenger names aren’t collected and ferry staff don’t even take a head count after loading. The number of passengers is only roughly determined by the number of tickets sold. Thus, the initial reports from BC Ferries that all passenger and crew survived were based on the simple belief that everyone had been evacuated. Demands for explanations of what had gone wrong arose.

The regional director of communications for Transport Canada (a governmental agency) reported the Queen of the North passed an annual safety inspection less than 3 weeks earlier, including lifeboat drill that required passengers be evacuated in less than 30 minutes. ‘They did very well at it and they obviously did very well when it happened for real’. He said.

The internal investigation BC Ferries conducted after the incident concluded that “human factors were the primary cause” of what happened. During the investigation, crew members responsible for navigating the ship that night claimed that they were unfamiliar with newly installed steering equipment. In addition, they had turned off a monitor displaying their course, because they could not turn on the night settings. The bridge crew used the equipment “in a way different than as instructed”, the report noted, although this was not cited as a cause of running that boat aground. The report also concluded that the crew maintained a “casual watch-standing behaviour”, had “lost situational awareness,” and “failed to appreciate the vessel’s impending peril. Transcripts of radio calls that evening noted that music was heard playing on the bridge.

Regarding the evacuation, though the crew was praised for acting quickly, several things made the evacuation more difficult than need be. There was no master key to the sleeping cabins; rather multiple keys had to be tried. A chalk X is supposed to be drawn on searched cabin doors, but no one had chalk. As well, only 53 of the 55 cabins were confirmed to have been searched.

of 12



1. Describe the type(s) of control that could be used to improve the BC Ferries service to prevent an accident such as this occurring again. Be specific.

2. Assume that you are the president of BC Ferries. You have read the report of the investigation and noted some of the problems found. What would you do? Explain your reasoning.

3. Would some types of controls be more important than others in this situation? Discuss.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE END

of 12

MP Oct 2012 Tutorial Questions W1 - W14

Documents

Transcript of MP Oct 2012 Tutorial Questions W1 - W14