It is an example which can be used as a free study to four or five managers, with prices as mentioned at the end of page 3.

My advice is to go, first through the whole two pages red rectangulars content, then go through the references which will take not less than 2 months, if properly investigated, by staff.

Part One: Management

Chapter 1
Managers and Managing

Chapter Objectives
 

Distinguish among planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (the four main management functions) and explain how managers' ability to handle each one can affect organizational performance.

Differentiate among three levels of management and understand the responsibilities of managers at different levels in the organizational hierarchy.

Identify the roles managers perform, the skills they need to execute those roles effectively, and the way new information technology is affecting these roles and skills.

Discuss the principle challenges facing managers in today's increasingly competitive global environment.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Describe what management is, why management is important, what managers do, and how managers utilize organizational resources efficiently and effectively to achieve organizational goals.

1. What is Management?
   Management is the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of resources to achieve organizational goals both effectively and efficiently.
   1. Achieving high performance
      1. Organizational performance is the measure of how efficiently and how effectively the resources of the organization are being used to both satisfy customers and to achieve organizational goals.
      2. Efficiency is the measure of how well resources are being used to achieve a goal.
      3. Effectiveness is the measure of the appropriateness of the goals and the degree to which they are being achieved.
   2. Why study management?
      1. Because managers decide how to use valuable resources, the impact the well-being of society as a whole.
      2. The study of management helps you to deal with your boss and fellow co-workers.

2 Distinguish among planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (the four principal managerial functions), and explain how managers' ability to handle each one can affect organizational performance.

2. Managerial Functions
   1. Planning – identifying and selecting goals and plans of action.
   2. Organizing – defining the working relationships that allow workers to achieve organizational goals.
   3. Leading -- includes energizing workers so that they understand the part they play in the achievement of the organization's goals.
   4. Controlling – evaluating how well the organization is achieving its goals and taking action to improve performance.

3 Differentiate among three levels of management, and understand the the responsibilities of managers at different levels in the organizational hierarchy.

3. Types of Managers
   1. Levels of management
      1. First-line managers – supervisors responsible for directing nonmanagerial workers
      2. Middle managers – supervise the first-line managers
      3. Top managers – responsible for the performance of all of the departments
   2. Areas of managers – managers belong to specific departments (e.g. marketing, human resources, etc.)
   3. Recent changes in managerial hierarchies
      1. Restructuring – downsizing the number of jobs in an organization
      2. Outsourcing – contracting with another company (frequently one that is outside of the U.S.) to perform activities at lower cost
      3. 3. Empowerment and self-managed teams – empowerment refers to giving workers expanded responsibilities for making decisions, while self-managed teams are responsible for supervising their own work activities.

4 Identify the roles managers perform, the skills they need to execute those roles effectively, and the way new information technology is affecting these roles and skills.

4. IT and Managerial Roles and Skills
   A role is a set of tasks a manager is expected to perform in the position of manager.
   1. Managerial roles identified by Mintzberg
      1. Decisional roles – used to plan organizational strategy and to use resources
         1. Entrepreneur – developing innovative goods and services
         2. Disturbance handler – taking quick action to solve unexpected problems
         3. Resource allocator – applying resources to departments
         4. Negotiator – working with other groups to achieve agreement
      2. Interpersonal roles – providing direction and supervision to workers
         1. Figurehead – setting future organizational goals
         2. Leader – providing a good examples for workers
         3. Liaison – coordinating work across different departments
      3. Informational roles – obtaining and sending information
         1. Monitor – evaluating the performance of managers in different departments
         2. Disseminator – informing workers about both internal and external changes that affect their work.
         3. Spokesperson – representing the organization to external groups
   2. Being a manager – often means reacting to "gut instincts"
   3. Managerial skills
      1. Conceptual skills – analyzing and diagnosing a situation in terms of a cause-effect relationship
      2. Human skills – the ability to understand and lead others
      3. Technical skills – job-specific knowledge and techniques needed by the role (e.g. accounting, engineering, production, etc.)

5 Discuss the principal challenges managers face in today's increasingly competitive global environment.

5. Challenges for Management in a Global Environment
   Competition to succeed in business has increased dramatically in the past twenty years.
   1. Building competitive advantage – the ability of an organization to outperform other organizations because of its efficiency and effectiveness in operations
      1. Increasing efficiency – reducing the resources needed to produce goods or services
      2. Increasing quality – improving the quality of goods or services
      3. Increasing speed, flexibility, and innovation – bring products to market faster, changing the way in which activities are performed to improve performance, and creating new goods and services that customers want.
      4. Increasing responsiveness to customers – training workers to be more responsive to the needs of customers
   2. Maintaining ethical and socially responsible standards – too much pressure on managers to perform can create situations in which they act unethically or in socially irresponsible ways
   3. Managing a diverse workforce – all workers need to be treated in a fair and equitable way so that the organization does not discriminate against any workers

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Chapter 2
The Evolution of Management Thought

Chapter Objectives
 

Explain the principle of job specialization and division of labor, and tell why the study of person-task relationships is central to the pursuit of increased efficiency.

Identify the principles of administration and organization that underlie effective organizations.

Trace the changes in theories about how managers should behave to motivate and control employees.

Explain the contributions of management science to the efficient use of organizational resources.

Explain why the study of the external environment and its impact on an organization has become a central issue in management thought.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Describe how the need to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness has guided the evolution of management theory.

1. Scientific Management Theory
   1. Job specialization – different workers specialize in specific tasks to increase efficiency.

2 Explain the principle of job specialization and division of labor, and tell why the study of person-task relationships is central to the pursuit of increased efficiency.

2. F.W. Taylor and Scientific Management – the systematic study of relationships between people and tasks in order to redesign the work to increase efficiency.
3. The Gilbreths – refined Taylor's analysis of work movements

3 Identify the principles of administration and organization that underlie effective organizations.

2. Administrative Management Theory
   The process of creating an organizational structure that improves efficiency and effectiveness.
   1. The Theory of Bureaucracy: Max Weber – a formal system of organization designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
      1. Authority – the power to hold workers accountable for their actions and to decide how to use the organization's resources
      2. Weber believed that managers must make it clear "who reports to whom for what."
      3. Rules – formal, written instructions that specify actions to be taken
      4. Standard operating procedures (SOP) – written instructions that explain how to perform a task.
   2. Fayol's 14 principles of management
      1. Division of labor – allowing workers to specialize in specific tasks
      2. Authority and responsibility – managers have the right to give orders and to expect obedience
      3. Unity of command – a worker should receive orders from only one superior
      4. Line of authority – the chain of command within the organization
      5. Centralization – where authority is concentrated in the organization
      6. Unity of direction – workers should all follow a single plan of action
      7. Equity – treating all workers with justice and respect
      8. Order – arranging jobs to permit efficiency
      9. Initiative – allowing workers to be creative and innovative in their work
      10. Discipline – managers need to create workers that strive to accomplish the organization's goals
      11. Remuneration of personnel – an equitable system of rewarding employees
      12. Stability of tenure of personnel – the need to keep employees for a long time to take advantage of their skills and knowledge
      13. Subordination of individual interests to the common interest – workers need to understand how their behavior affects the performance of the organization
      14. Esprit de corps – shared feelings of comradeship and enthusiasm

4 Trace the changes in theories about how managers should behave to motivate and control employees

3. Behavioral Management Theory
   The study of how managers should act to motivate workers to perform at high levels
   1. Mary Parker Follett – felt that Taylor had ignored the human side of the organization
   2. The Hawthorne studies – productivity of workers increased when lighting was both better and worse suggesting that workers were affected by their attitudes toward their managers
   3. Theory X and Theory Y: Douglas McGregor
      1. Theory X assumes that workers are lazy, dislike work, and will try to do as little work as possible
      2. Theory Y assumes that workers are not lazy, do not dislike work, and will do what is good for the organization

5 Explain the contributions of management science to the efficient use of organizational resources

4. Management Science Theory
   The use of quantitative techniques to maximize use of resources (operations management, total quality management (TQM), and management information systems (MIS)
5. Organizational Environment Theory
   The forces the operate outside of the organization and affect a manager's ability to use resources
   1. The open-systems view – converts resources from the external environment into goods that are sent back to the external environment
   2. Contingency theory – assumes that there is no one best way to organize

6 Explain why the study of the external environment and its impact on an organization has become a central issue in management thought.

6. Mechanistic and organic structures
   1. Mechanistic structure – a vertical hierarchy of authority is used to control workers' behavior
   2. Organic structure – authority is decentralized so that managers and workers can react quickly to changing conditions

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Chapter 3
The Manager as a Person: Values, Attitudes, Emotions, and Culture

Chapter Objectives

Explain what values and attitudes are and describe their impact on managerial action.

Appreciate how moods and emotions influence all members of an organization.

Describe the nature of emotional intelligence and its role in management.

Define organizational culture and explain how managers both create, and are influenced by, organizational culture.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Describe the various personality traits that affect how managers think, feel, and behave.

1. Enduring Characteristics: Personality Traits
   Personality traits are tendencies to feel, think, and act in certain ways
   1. The Big Five personality traits
      1. Extraversion is the tendency to experience positive moods and emotions and to feel good about the world
      2. Negative affectivity is the tendency to experience negative emotions and moods and to be critical of oneself and others
      3. Agreeableness refers to the tendency to get along well with other people
      4. Conscientiousness is the tendency to be careful and persevering
      5. Openness to experience refers to the tendency to be original and open to a wide range of experience and to take risks
   2. Other personality traits that affect a manager's behavior
      1. Locus of control refers to a manager's perception of how much control he has over what happens to himself and his circumstances
         1. Internal locus of control refers to the tendency of a manager to feel that he or she is responsible for his or her own fate
         2. External locus of control refers to the belief that outside forces are responsible for what happens to the manager as their own actions do not make much of a difference
      2. Self-esteem is the degree to which people feel good about themselves and their abilities
      3. Need for achievement refers to a strong desire to perform challenging tasks well and to set personal standards of excellence. Need for affiliation refers to the need to get along well with others. Need for power is the desire to control and to influence others

2 Explain what values and attitudes are and describe their impact on managerial action.

2. Values, Attitudes, and Moods and Emotions
   Values describe what managers are trying to achieve in their work and how they think they should act. Attitudes are thoughts and feelings about the job and the organization. Moods and emotions describe how managers feel when they are managing.
   1. Values: Terminal and Instrumental
      1. Terminal values refer to a manager's lifelong goals and objectives
      2. Instrumental values refers to a manager's perception of how he or she is supposed to act
      3. Norms are the way a manager is supposed to act within the organization
   2. Attitudes – a set of feelings and beliefs
      1. Job satisfaction refers to how a manager feels and what he believes about his job and the organization.
      2. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) – behaviors that are "above and beyond the call of duty" but which are not required by the organization (e.g. working long hours of overtime when needed to finish a project)
      3. Organizational commitment – the entire set of feelings and beliefs that managers have about their organization

3 Appreciate how moods and emotions influence all members of an organization.

3. Moods and Emotions
   1. Moods – feelings or states of mine (e.g. excited, enthusiastic, etc.)
   2. Emotions – intense, short-lived feelings

4 Describe the nature of emotional intelligence and its role in management.

4. Emotional Intelligence
   Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to understand and to manage one's own emotions and moods as well as the emotions of others.

5 Define organizational culture and explain how managers both create and are influenced by organizational culture.

5. Organizational Culture
   Organizational culture is the shared beliefs, expectations, values, norms and work routines that influence how employees relate to each other and work together
   1. Managers and organizational culture – the personal characteristics of an organization's founder frequently have a profound influence on the culture of that organization.
   2. The role of values and norms in organizational culture – terminal values, instrumental values, and norms play an important part in the culture of an organization.
      1. Values of the founder – the founder can have a long-lasting effect on the values and norms of the organization
      2. Organizational Socialization -- the ways in which new employees learn the organization's values and norms so that they can perform their jobs effectively
      3. Ceremonies and rites
         1. Rites of passage – determine how people enter, advance within, or leave the organization
         2. Rites of integration – shared experiences that reinforce common bonds among workers (e.g. office parties, cookouts, etc.)
         3. Rites of enhancement – awards dinners, newspaper articles, and employee promotions
   3. Culture and managerial action
      1. Planning – an innovative culture encourages all managers to participate in the planning process
      2. Organizing – an innovative culture is more likely to have a flat, organic structure with decentralized authority
      3. Leading – an innovative culture encourages managers to take risks
      4. Controlling – the ways in which managers evaluate and take action to improve performance

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Part Two: The Environment of Management

Chapter 4
Ethics and Social Responsibility

Chapter Objectives

Appreciate why it is important to behave ethically.

Differentiate between the claims of different stockholder groups that are affected by managers and their companies' actions.

Describe four rules that can be used to help companies and their managers act in ethical ways.

Identify the four main sources of managerial ethics.

Distinguish between the four main approaches toward social responsibility that a company can take.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Understand the relationship between ethics and the law

1. The Nature of Ethics
   1. Ethical dilemmas – the need to decide what is the "right thing" to do in a given situation
      1. Ethics – the moral principles used to decide what is right or wrong
   2. Ethics and the law – laws specify what people can and cannot do in a society and convert ethical decisions into legal decisions

2 Appreciate why it is important to behave ethically

3. Changes in ethics over time – what is considered ethical in one generation may be considered unethical in later generations

3 Differentiate between the claims of the different stakeholder groups that are affected by managers and their companies' actions

2. Stakeholders and Ethics
   Stakeholders are the people and groups affected by the company's decisions.
   1. Stockholders – purchase stock in the company and become part of the owners of the company
   2. Managers – decide the goals of the company the way in which the resources of the company will be used
   3. Employees – expect that they will be rewarded by their performance
   4. Suppliers and distributors – expect to be paid fairly for their inputs and distribution of the company's products
   5. Customers – expect to buy quality products at a fair price
   6. Community, society, and nation – decisions made by managers at companies affect all of societies in which the company operates

4 Describe four rules that can be used to help companies and their managers act in ethical ways

3. Rules for Ethical Decision Making
   1. Utilitarian rule – a decision is ethical if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people
   2. Moral rights rule – a decision is ethical if it protects the fundamental rights of the people who are affected by the decision
   3. Justice rule – a decision is ethical if it benefits and harms people and groups in a fair and impartial way
   4. Practical rule – a decision is ethical is the typical person in the society would think it is an acceptable decision

5 Identify the four main sources of managerial ethics

4. Why Should Managers Behave Ethically?
   If everyone acted unethically, chaos would result in a society

6 Distinguish between the four main approaches toward social responsibility that a company can take

5. Ethics and Social Responsibility
   1. Societal ethics – the standards that govern the members of the society in how they deal with one another
   2. Occupational ethics – the standards that govern the members of a profession or trade in how they should conduct themselves at work
   3. Individual ethics – personal standards of behavior that determine how an individual should act toward others
   4. Organizational ethics – beliefs about how a company should act toward its stakeholders
6. Approaches to Social Responsibility
   Social responsibility refers to the way managers see their obligation to make decisions that promote the welfare of stakeholders and society as a whole
   1. Four different approaches
      1. Obstructionist approach – managers decide not to act in a socially responsible way and try to hide their behavior from others
      2. Defensive approach – managers act within the law but only do what the law requires
      3. Accommodative approach – try to balance the needs of different stakeholder groups against one another
      4. Proactive approach – companies go out of their way to learn the needs of the different stakeholder groups
   2. Why be socially responsible? – acting responsibility helps to create a positive reputation for the company and is economically the sensible thing to do
   3. The role of organizational culture – managers can take steps to make sure that the company's values and norms become an important aspect of the company's culture by appointing an ethics ombudsman to monitor the ethical practices of the company's employees

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Chapter 5
Managing Diverse Employees in a Multi-Cultural Environment

Chapter Objectives

Grasp the central role that managers play in the effective management of diversity.

Understand why the effective management of diversity is both an ethical and a business imperative.

Appreciate how perception and the use of schemas can result in unfair treatment.

Appreciate the steps managers can take to effectively manage diversity.

Understand the two major forms of sexual harassment and how they can be eliminated.

Chapter Outline

1 Appreciate the increasing diversity of the workforce and of the organizational environment.

1. The Increasing Diversity of the Workforce and the Environment
   Diversity deals with differences among people due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, education, experience, physical appearance, capabilities/disabilities, and any other characteristic that distinguishes between people.
   1. Age – the median age of people in the U.S. is 35 years. Managers need to be careful that they do not discriminate against workers based on their age.
   2. Gender – The U.S. workforce is about 54 percent male and 46 percent female.
   3. Race and Ethnicity – ethnicity refers to whether a person is Hispanic or not. The 2000 U.S. Census reported that 75 percent of the population was white.
   4. Religion – Title VII of the Civil Rights Ace prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, country of origin, and gender.
   5. Capabilities/Disabilities – The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.
   6. Socioeconomic background – refers to a combination of social class and income.
   7. Sexual orientation – no federal law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, but 14 states have such laws.
   8. Other kinds of diversity – physical appearance is a good example.

2 Grasp the central role that managers play in the effective management of diversity.

2. Managers and the Effective Management of Diversity
   1. Critical management roles
      1. Interpersonal – manager as figurehead
      2. Role model – manager as leader

3 Understand why the effective management of diversity is both an ethical and a business imperative.

2. The ethical imperative to manage diversity effectively
   1. Distributive justice – pay raises, promotions, job titles, office space should be distributed in a fair manner.
   2. Procedural justice – judging performance, granting raises or promotions, and laying off people should be done using a fair procedure.
3. Effectively managing diversity makes good business sense – the diversity of a workforce can create a competitive advantage for the organization in terms of dealing with different types of customers.

4 Appreciate how perception and the use of schemas can result in unfair treatment.

3. Perception
   Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret what they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste to give meaning to the world.
   1. Factors that influence managerial perception
      1. Schemas – abstract memory that allows people to interpret information about a person, event, or situation.
      2. Gender schemas – preconceived ideas about what men and women are really like.
   2. Perception as a determinant of unfair treatment – inaccurate perceptions can cause unfair treatment
      1. Stereotype – simplistic beliefs about groups of people, typically based on age, gender, or race.
      2. Biases – a tendency to use information to create inaccurate perceptions about other people.
         1. similar-to-me effect – a tendency to perceive people who are similar to us in positive ways.
         2. social status effect – the tendency to perceive people who have high social status in a positive way
         3. salience effect – the tendency to focus on people who are different from ourselves.
   3. Overt discrimination – knowingly denying diverse people access to opportunities within the organization; it both unethical and illegal.

5 Appreciate the steps managers can take to effectively manage diversity.

4. How to Manage Diversity Effectively
   1. Steps in managing diversity
      1. Get commitment from top managers
      2. Try to increase the accuracy of perceptions
      3. Increase diversity awareness
      4. Increase diversity skills
      5. Encourage flexibility of approaches to doing things
      6. Be objective in how people are evaluated
      7. Look at the number of minorities in different jobs
      8. Empower employees to challenge discriminatory actions
      9. Reward employees who manage diversity effectively
      10. Provide training in a variety of awareness skills
      11. Encourage mentoring of diverse employees

6 Understand the two major forms of sexual harassment and how they can be eliminated.

2. Sexual harassment – is both unethical and illegal
   1. quid pro quo sexual harassment – sexual favors are required to obtain a job, a promotion, a raise, or to avoid being fired or laid off.
   2. hostile work environment sexual harassment – the work environment is intimidating, hostile, or offensive based on sexual jokes or vulgar language.
3. Steps managers can take to eradicate sexual harassment
   1. Clearly communicate a sexual harassment policy to employees
   2. Use a fair procedure to investigate charges of sexual harassment
   3. Take corrective action quickly if it is needed
   4. Provide education and training to employees about this issue

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Chapter 6
Managing in the Global Environment

Chapter Objectives
 

Identify the main forces in a global organization's task and general environments, and describe the challenges that each environment presents to managers.

Explain why the global environment is becoming more open and competitive, and why barriers to the global transfer of goods and services are falling.

Explain the role national culture, why it is important, and the five dimensions upon which various national cultures can be compared.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Explain why the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond appropriately to the organizational environment is crucial for managerial success.

1. What is the Organizational Environment?
   The organizational environment consists of the forces outside the organization that have the potential to affect the way the organization operates.

2 Identify the main forces in a global organization's task and general environments, and describe the challenges that each force presents to managers.

1. Task environment – suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors that affect the organization's ability to obtain its inputs and find sources for its outputs.
   1. Suppliers – provide input resources (e.g. raw materials, components, workers) that the organization needs.
   2. Distributors – help organizations to sell their goods and services.
   3. Customers – people or companies that buy goods and services from another organization.
   4. Competitors – organizations that sell similar goods and services
2. General environment
   1. Economic forces – interest rates, inflation, unemployment, economic growth.
   2. Technological forces – tools, machines, computers, skills, information, and knowledge that managers use in the design, production, and distribution of goods and services.
   3. Sociocultural forces – forces emanating from the social structure of the society.
   4. Demographic forces – characteristics of people, such as age, gender, ethnic group, race, sexual orientation, and social class.
   5. Political and legal forces – changes produced by new laws and regulations.
   6. Global forces – changes caused by international relationships.

3 Explain why the global environment is becoming more open and competitive and why barriers to the global transfer of goods and services are falling, increasing the opportunities, complexities, challenges, and threats that managers face.

2. The Changing Global Environment
   1. Declining barriers to trade and investment
      1. GATT – General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – an international treaty that attempted to reduce trade barriers between countries.
   2. Declining barriers of distance and culture – improvements in global communication make communication possible with almost any place in the world
   3. Effects of free trade on managers
      1. NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to reduce trade barriers between their countries.
   4. The role of national culture – countries have very different cultures
      1. Values and norms – values are what a society believes to be good and right, while norms are unwritten rules of conduct that describe appropriate behavior.
      2. Folkways and mores – folkways are routine ways of interacting with others, while mores are norms that are very important to the society's social life.
   5. Hofstede's model of national culture
      1. Individualism vs. collectivism – individualism values individual freedom, while collectivism values the group.
      2. Power distance – are inequalities in the well-being of people due to their physical and intellectual capabilities?
      3. Achievement vs. nurturing – achievement societies value competition and performance, while nurturing societies value close personal relationships and caring for individuals who are weak.
      4. Uncertainty avoidance – the ability to tolerate differences between people.
      5. Long-term vs. short-term – long-term orientation values thrift and persistence, while short-term orientation encourages living for the present.
   6. National culture and global management – management practices that are effective in one country may be ineffective in another country.

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Part Three: Decision-Making, Planning, and Strategy

Chapter 7
The Manager as a Decision Maker

Chapter Objectives
 

Describe the six steps that managers should take to make the best decisions.

Explain how cognitive biases can affect decision-making and lead managers to make poor decisions.

Identify the advantages and disadvantages of group decision-making, and describe techniques that can improve it.

Explain the role that organizational learning and creativity play in helping managers to improve their decisions.

Chapter Outline
 

1 Differentiate between programmed and nonprogrammed decisions, and explain why nonprogrammed decision making is a complex, uncertain process.

1. The Nature of Managerial Decision Making
   1. Programmed and nonprogrammed decision making
      1. Programmed decision making –routine decisions that have been made many times in the past.
      2. Nonprogrammed decision making – nonroutine decisions that are made in novel situations.
         1. Intuition – feelings and hunches that come to mind
         2. Reasoned judgment – a decision that results from careful information gathering and evaluation of alternative courses of action.
   2. The classical model – specifies how decisions should be made
   3. The administrative model – March and Simon explained why decision making is always a risky process.
      1. Bounded rationality – decisions are limited by people's ability to interpret, process, and act on a large amount of information.
      2. Incomplete information – the full range of decision making alternatives is not knowable.
      3. Risk and uncertainty – risk occurs when managers can assign probabilities to possible outcomes of decisions, while uncertainty does not allow assigning probabilities to possible outcomes.
      4. Ambiguous information – much of the meaning of information is unclear.
      5. Time constraints and information costs – managers do not have either enough time or money to evaluate all possible outcomes of decisions.
      6. Satisficing – this type decision searches for an acceptable decision instead of the optimum decision.

2 Describe the six steps that managers should take to make the best decisions.

2. Steps in the Decision-Making Process
   1. Recognize the need for a decision – do you need to make a decision here?
   2. Create alternatives – possible action to take.
   3. Evaluate alternatives – in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.
      1. Legality – is this action legal?
      2. Ethicalness – Is this action ethical?
      3. Economic feasibility – what does a cost-benefit analysis say?
      4. Practicality – are we able to do this action successfully?
   4. Choose among alternatives – decide which action to take.
   5. Implement the chosen alternative – carry out the steps needed to implement the decision.
   6. Learn from feedback – learn from past successes and past failures.

3 Explain how cognitive biases can affect decision making and lead managers to make poor decisions.

3. Cognitive Biases and Decision Making
   1. Prior hypothesis bias – making a decision based on past beliefs even when new evidence shows that those beliefs are incorrect.
   2. Representativeness bias – generalizing from a small sample.
   3. Illusion of control – overestimating one's ability to control events.
   4. Escalating commitment – refers to continuing to commit resources to a project even when receiving feedback that the project is failing.
   5. Be aware of your biases – managers need to be aware of their own biases and decision-making styles.

4 Identify the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making, and describe techniques that can improve it.

4. Group Decision making
   1. The perils of groupthink – groups in which members try to agree with each other instead of accurately assessing information.
   2. Devil's advocacy and dialectical inquiry
      1. Devil's advocacy – one member of the group challenges the group's thinking
      2. Dialectical inquiry – two groups select an alternative solution, and the other group critiques their recommendation.
   3. Diversity among decision makers – having different ethnic, racial, and functional backgrounds in a group can broaden the group's thinking

5 Explain the role that organizational learning and creativity play in helping managers to improve their decisions.

5. Organizational Learning and Creativity
   A learning organization maximizes the ability of workers to think and to act creatively.
   1. Creating a learning organization -- Senge's five principles:
      1. Top managers must allow personal mastery in all workers.
      2. Organizations must encourage complex mental models that challenge better ways of thinking and acting.
      3. Managers must promote group creativity.
      4. Managers must build a shared vision that frames problems.
      5. Managers must encourage systems thinking.
   2. Promoting individual creativity – managers must take risks and experiment and learn from their mistakes.
   3. Promoting group creativity
      1. Brainstorming – managers meet to generate a wide variety of alternative solutions to a problem.
      2. Nominal group technique – group members write down ideas and solutions, read them to the whole group, and discuss and then rank the alternatives.
      3. Delphi technique – Group members do not meet but respond in writing to questions from the group leader.
   4. Promoting creativity at the global level – the Delphi technique is useful here when managers live in different countries.

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Chapter 8
The Manager as a Planner and Strategist

Chapter Objectives
 

Explain the role of planning in predicting the future and in mobilizing organizational resources to meet future contingencies.

Outline the main steps in SWOT analysis.

Differentiate among corporate-level, business-level, and functional-level strategies.

Describe the vital role played by strategy implementation in determining a manager's ability to achieve an organization's mission and goals.

Chapter Outline

1 Describe the three steps of the planning process and the relationship between planning and strategy.

1. The Nature of the Planning Process
   Planning is the process of identifying and selecting goals and actions for the organization.
   1. Levels of Planning
      1. Corporate-level plans – top management decides the organization's mission and goals in terms of the industries and markets.
      2. Business-level plans – the long-term goals of the division that are intended to achieve the goals of the corporate-level plans.
      3. Functional-level strategy – actions that departments plan to do to allow the organization to achieve its goals.
   2. Who plans? – at the business level, planning is the responsibility of divisional managers.
   3. Time horizon of plans
      1. Long-term plans – five or more years
      2. Intermediate-term plans – one to five years
      3. Short-term plans – one year or less
   4. Standing plans and single-use plans
      1. Standing plans – useful for situations involving programmed decisions.
      2. Single-use plans – useful for dealing with nonprogrammed decisions
   5. Why planning is important – planning forces managers to consider the future and how to prepare for it.
      1. Planning forces managers to participate in decision-making.
      2. Planning gives the organization direction and purpose.
      3. A plan coordinates the activities of managers in different functional areas to ensure that they work together effectively.
      4. A plan can be used to control the performance of managers.
   6. Scenario planning (contingency planning) – a forecast of possible future conditions and how the organization should respond to them.

2 Explain the role of planning in predicting the future and in mobilizing organizational resources to meet future contingencies

2. Determining the Organization's Mission and Goals
   1. Defining the business – Who are our customers? What customer needs are we satisfying? How are we satisfying these customer needs?
   2. Establishing major goals – primary goals give the organization a direction and purpose.

3 Outline the main steps in SWOT analysis.

3. Formulating strategy
   1. SWOT analysis – the process of identifying the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as the first step in creating strategy at all levels of the organization.
   2. Porter's five forces model
      1. Rivalry among organizations in the industry
      2. Potential entry into the industry
      3. Power of suppliers
      4. Power of customers
      5. Threat of substitute products

4 Differentiate among corporate-, business-, and functional-level strategies.

4. Formulating Corporate-level Strategies
   1. Concentration on a single business – an attempt to develop a strong competitive position in an industry.
   2. Diversification – producing new goods or expanding to a new type of business or industry.
      1. Related diversification – entering a new business or industry in order to create a competitive advantage in the organization's existing businesses.
      2. Unrelated diversification – expanding into a new industry that is not related at all to the company's existing businesses.
   3. International expansion
      1. Global strategy – marketing the same standardized product in every country with the same basic approach.
      2. Multidomestic strategy – customizing products and marketing strategies to fit the conditions in each country.
      3. Importing and exporting
         1. Exporting – producing the company's products domestically and then selling them to companies that are in other countries.
         2. Importing – buying products from companies that are in other countries.
      4. Licensing and franchising
         1. Licensing – a company receives a fee for allowing a foreign company to manufacture and distribute some of its products.
         2. Franchising – a company sells the rights to use its name and procedures to another company for an initial fee and a share of the revenues of that newly-created franchise.
      5. Strategic alliances – managers share resources and profits with a foreign company
      6. Joint venture – two or more companies agree to share the investment and profits for a new business.
      7. Wholly owned foreign subsidiary – a company creates its own production and marketing capabilities in a foreign country without help from a local company in that country.
   4. Vertical integration – a company owns more than one level of the distribution channel for a product
5. Formulating Business-level strategies
   1. Low-cost strategy – producing goods and services at a lower cost level than competitors.
   2. Differentiation strategy – trying to gain a competitive advantage by creating products or marketing strategies that are different from competitors
   3. Stuck in the middle – inability to decide on what type of strategy to pursue
   4. Focused low-cost and focused differentiation strategies
      1. Focused low-cost strategy – serving a small number of market segments in an attempt to become the lowest-cost company serving those segments.
      2. Focused differentiation strategy – serving a small number of market segments but trying to be different from the competition in the company's products and marketing strategies.
6. Formulating Functional-level strategies
   The company attempts to improve its functional areas in order to create more value for its customers.

5 Describe the vital role played by strategy implementation in determining managers' ability to achieve an organization's mission and goals.

7. Planning and Implementing Strategy
   An organization assigns responsibility to managers for implementing the organization's strategy, develops detailed actions plans for this strategy, sets a time frame for implementation, allocates resources, and holds managers accountable for the achievement of the organization's goals.

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Chapter 9
Value Chain Management: Operating Strategies to Increase Quality, Efficiency, and Responsiveness to Customers

Chapter Objectives

Describe what customers want, and explain why it is so important for managers to be responsive to customer needs.

Explain why achieving superior quality in an organization's operations and processes is so important.

Describe the challenges facing managers and organizations that seek to implement total quality management.

Explain why achieving superior efficiency is so important.

Differentiate among facilities layout, flexible manufacturing, just-in-time inventory, and process reengineering.

Chapter Outline

1 Explain the role of value-chain management in achieving superior quality, efficiency, and responsiveness to customers.

1. Value-chain Management and Competitive Advantage
   1. Value chain – the functional activities that transform inputs into outputs of goods and services that customers value.
      1. Production function – creates the goods and services of a company.
      2. Service function – provides after-sale service and support.
      3. Materials management function – the movement of physical materials through the value chain.
      4. Information systems function – electronic systems for inventory, sales tracking, pricing products, and selling products.
   2. Functional strategies and competitive advantage – functional managers need to be sure that the organization attains superior efficiency, quality, speed, flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to customers.

2 Describe what customers want, and explain why it is so important for managers to be responsive to their needs.

2. Improving Responsiveness to customers
   1. What do customers want?
      1. A lower price
      2. High-quality products
      3. Quick service
      4. Products with many features
      5. Customized products
   2. Designing operating systems responsive to customers – the ability of an organization to satisfy its customers depends on its operating system.

3 Explain why achieving superior quality is so important.

3. Improving quality
   High quality products are reliable, dependable, and satisfying to customers. Customers usually prefer a higher quality product. Also, higher product quality can increase production efficiency and lower production costs and increase profit.

4 Describe the challenges facing managers and organizations that seek to implement total quality management.

1. Total Quality Management (TQM) – improving the quality of products and services should be the focus of everyone in the organization.
   1. Build commitment to quality.
   2. Focus on the customer.
   3. Find ways to measure quality.
   4. Set goals and create incentives to reach them.
   5. Obtain input from employees.
   6. Find defects and trace them to their source.
   7. Use a JIT inventory system.
   8. Work closely with suppliers.
   9. Design for ease in the production process.
   10. Break down barriers between the different functional areas.

5 Explain why achieving superior efficiency is so important.

4. Improving efficiency
   The fewer inputs required to produce an output, the higher the efficiency of the operating system.

6 Differentiate among facilities layout, flexible manufacturing, just-in-time inventory, and process reengineering.

1. Facilities layout, flexible manufacturing, and efficiency
   1. Facilities layout – the way in which machines and people are grouped in production.
      1. Product layout – workers stay in one place and the product comes to them (e.g. mass production in a Ford automobile plant)
      2. Process layout – workers stay in one place, but the product comes to whichever worker is needed to do the next operation.
      3. Fixed-position layout – the product in production stays in one place, and components produced elsewhere are brought to it (e.g. jet planes).
   2. Flexible manufacturing – if production setup time can be reduced, production time will become more efficient.
2. Just-in-time inventory and efficiency – efficiency increases if the raw materials or components can be supplied in production very close to the time when they are actually needed in the production process.
3. Self-managed work teams and efficiency – these teams provide a flexible workforce and reduce the need for supervision.
4. Process reengineering and efficiency – radical redesign of business processes can improve performance.
5. Information systems, the Internet, and efficiency – the Internet can significantly reduce a company's ordering and customer service functions.
5. Value-chain management: some remaining issues
   1. Boundary-spanning roles – interacting with people outside of your organization in order to obtain valuable information that is not available within your organization.
   2. Ethical implications – the impact of increased efficiency can result in overloading workers with more responsibilities or, worse, in the elimination of the jobs of some workers.

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