business managment data bank

18. Tell All Industries has experienced financial losses for the past six quarters. The Board of Directors has decided that the organization will be reengineered. The decisions that must be made to accomplish this successfully can be classified as

A) programmed (in structure).

B) in a condition of uncertainty.

C) low in risk.

D) all of the above.

E) none of the above.

19. Marilyn Onn recently faced a decision that required computation of financing which she had only limited experience with. She was able to determine an option that was within her department's budget, but she could not be sure that her decision was the most efficient or effective. By selecting the option that was acceptable, she was

A) minimizing.

B) optimizing.

C) satisficing.

D) incompetent as a manager.

E) putting off the decision.

20. To maximize is to

A) realize the largest possible financial benefit.

B) involve as many people affected by the decision as possible in its design.

C) make the best possible decision.

D) utilize groupthink as individual decisions.

E) generate many alternatives for evaluation.

21. Implementation issues consist of

A) allocate resources.

B) organize for results.

C) how to implement strategies.

D) lead and motivate people.

E) all of the above.

22. Psychological bias in decision-making refers to

A) the effect that a person's psychological capabilities have upon the decisions they must make under pressure.

B) what happens when a decision maker must balance the preferences of many interested parties, diluting effectiveness.

C) the conflict that results from too many people involved with making a decision.

D) the inability to be objective when obtaining and using information for decision making allowing irrationality to interfere.

E) the fact that people are motivated by a need for power which clouds their decision making capabilities.

23. The way in which the alternatives to a decision are stated or phrased may have an impact on which alternative is chosen. Varying alternatives can be presented in a more favorable or less favorable way, affecting the decision. This is referred to as

A) framing effects.

B) phrasing effects.

C) fraud effects.

D) flamboyancy effect.

E) fracture effects.

24. Discounting the future refers to

A) valuing long-term benefits at the cost of short-term benefits.

B) underestimating the long-term effects.

C) underestimating the short-term effects.

D) valuing short-term benefits at the cost of long-term benefits.

E) none of the above.

25. The basic philosophy behind group decision making is that "two heads are better than one." But does this statement hold true?

A) Yes, always

B) Yes, potentially

C) No, two does not constitute a group

D) No, never

E) Sadly, an answer for this cannot be determined

26. Amy left the meeting, frustrated as usual. The group really needed to make some decisions regarding next year's marketing campaign. Jeff rammed all his ideas through, which were good but nobody else dared to speak up or contribute. The group experienced

A) groupthink.

B) domination.

C) satisficing.

D) all of the above.

E) none of the above.

27. Conflict in group decision making is considered to be

A) destructive.

B) constructive.

C) creative.

D) conflict may be any of the above.

E) conflict is b and c, but not a.

28. The dialectic method requires that

A) people present contrary arguments in order to force investigation of the alternative under consideration.

B) a debate between two conflicting courses of action be held.

C) conflict generated within the group be minimized.

D) conflict generated within the group be maximized.

E) the leader perform the role of peacekeeper.

29. In order to be creative, a brainstorming session must

A) be free of criticism.

B) be held in private.

C) be done professionally.

D) be done face-to-face.

E) involve industry experts.

30. Which of the following is NOT an effective aspect of planning?

A) Planning should be purposeful.

B) Planning should provide a "map" with a single, clearly defined path to attain goal(s).

C) Planning should involve all employees' expertise.

D) Planning should outline goals and activities that an organization will pursue in the future.

E) Planning should be utilized by firms of every size.

31. Bill Thomas, human resource manager at Amarillys, Inc., has the task of translating organizational goals into specific plans for his subordinates within the human resources department. This task is called

A) strategic planning.

B) situational analysis.

C) tactical planning.

D) SWOT analysis.

E) operational planning.

32. The level of planning involving the longest time frames and the largest portion of an organization is

A) operational planning.

B) missionary planning.

C) tactical planning.

D) departmental planning.

E) strategic planning.

33. Typical strategic goals might include

A) production scheduling, training of personnel, accounting procedures, updating equipment used.

B) profit levels, share value, growth, return on investment, societal impact.

C) advertising expenditures, sales levels, product use innovations, customer feedback levels.

D) absenteeism levels, benefit usage and value, human resource utilization, compliance with civil rights laws.

E) a and b, but not c and d.

34. A set of skills or expertise that company utilizes better than the competition is referred to as

A) strategic advantage alliances.

B) better business benefits.

C) core competencies.

D) dated benchmarks.

E) none of the above.

35. In order to reduce production costs, Shaffer Tire Company decided to buy out a rubber plant and begin manufacturing their own rubber for their tires. This strategy is an example of

A) concentration.

B) vertical integration.

C) concentric diversification.

D) conglomerate diversification.

E) differentiation.

36. Although Beyers Beverage Company had focused only on alcohol products for the past two decades, the company is now considering entering the soft drink arena as well. Such a strategy would illustrate

A) vertical integration.

B) concentric diversification.

C) conglomerate diversification.

D) concentration.

E) differentiation.

37. McDonald's would appear to be following which type of corporate strategy?

A) Conglomerate strategy

B) Market focus strategy

C) Concentric diversification

D) Concentration strategy

E) Vertical strategy

38. When a company attempts to establish itself as uniquely able to offer a product or service, it is using ______________ strategy.

A) differentiation

B) diversification

C) dimensional issue

D) demand/supply

E) dimensional studies

39. Functional Strategies refer to

A) those utilized by specific functional areas of a business to support the strategy chosen by that business.

B) those utilized by top management in developing the corporate structure and resource allocation.

C) those strategies voted on by the Board of Directors.

D) those strategies that function as corporate benchmarks for evaluating corporate performance.

E) none of the above.

40. If Disney added Wal-Mart type department stores to its entertainment businesses, it would describe which type of corporate strategy?

A) Concentration strategy

B) Conglomerate diversification

C) Vertical integration

D) Concentric diversification

E) None of the above