Final Examination Questions Business Policy

1. Define conflict. What are the strategies for settling

conflicts? Which do you think is the best and why?
Conflict is a struggle that results from opposing needs or feelings
between two or more people. There are four basic strategies for
settling conflicts: Compromising is when the parties to the
conflict settle on a solution that gives both of them part of what
they wanted. Avoiding is when managers ignore the conflict.
Forcing is a technique in which managers use authority to
declare that conflict is ended. Resolving is when the manager
pinpoints differences that exist, and identify the issues and find a
way to fix the problem that they both agree on. Resolving is the
best strategy because it doesnt leave the conflict there but
addresses it head on and attempts to solve it.
2. Define influencing. What is the difference between verbal
and nonverbal interpersonal communication? Which is
more important and why? What is the difference between
formal and informal organizational communication?
Which is more important and why?
Influencing is the process of guiding the activities of organization
members in appropriate directions. Verbal communication is
communication that uses either spoken or written words to share
information with others, and nonverbal communication is the
sharing of information without using words to encode thoughts,
such as gestures, vocal tones, and facial expressions. Non-verbal
communication is more important because it often shows whats
really being thought people do this subconsciously. Formal
organizational communication is communication that follows the
lines of the organization chart downward, upward and lateral.
Informal communication is like a grapevine springs up and is
used irregularly, not controlled be top execs, exists to serve the
self-interest of the people in it. Within an organization, it is
important to have proper formal communication but also to be
extremely aware of the grapevine that spreads news because
that is often taken as fact as well.
3. According to the path-goal theory of leadership, leaders
exhibit four primary types of behavior. Identify and define
each of these. Which is the most effective?

The path-goal theory of leadership is a theory of leadership that

suggests that the primary activities of a leader are to make
desirable and achievable rewards available to organization
members who attain organizational goals and to clarify the kinds
of behavior that must be performed to earn those rewards.
The four primary types of behavior that leaders exhibit are:
Directive behavior: aimed at telling followers what to do
and how to do it
Supportive behavior: aimed at being friendly with followers
and showing interest in them as human beings
Participative behavior: aimed at seeking suggestions from
followers regarding business operations to the extent that
followers are involved in making important decisions
Achievement behavior: aimed at setting challenging goals
for followers to reach and expressing and demonstrating
confidence that they will measure up to the challenge.
I dont think that there is one that is the all-around most effective
the manager needs to know the workplace environment and decide
which is best in each scenario. Directive leadership works best in
emergency situations or when the employee is inexperienced and
the task is complex it eases them. Supportive leadership works
best when the work is stressful or boring, and participative
leadership is most successful when the employees are experts and
their advice is useful. Achievement leadership works best when the
task is complex this probably works the most often.
4. According to the textbook and the discussion in class, we
noted that managers should know the language of their
workers, understand their attitudes, and understand their
needs. Why is each important? Which is the most
important and why?
Managers are ultimately there to guide the organization toward accomplishing a
goal. Without knowing the language of their workers, understanding their
attitudes, and understanding their needs, this cannot be done. Without the manager
understanding the language, nothing will get done. This goes beyond language
barriers such as Japanese and English, to barriers in the jargon of the everyday
work. Someone who is trained in marketing will not necessarily understand one of
the finance or accounting people. It is important that all of the divisions can
interact in order to coordinate certain things, and a manager is usually the one to
facilitate that. It is important to understand employees attitudes because culturally,
everyone comes from different places. According to the behavioral approach,
production increases through the understanding of people. You need to know what
motivates people in order to have greater organizational success. Understanding
needs are important for the same reasons. In addition, Maslows hierarchy of
needs shows that needs higher up are irrelevant until the needs below are reached.

An employee, who struggles everyday to feed his family, will not necessarily care
about the certificate of achievement. The most important for an organization to
run smoothly is to understand the language. That is the first step towards
understanding everything else and making sure the business is ran seamlessly and
successfully.

5. Define Corporate Social Responsibility. What are the

arguments for and against performing social
responsibility activities. Take a side on this and support
your position.
Corporate social responsibility is the managerial obligation to take action that
protects and improves both the welfare of society as a whole and the interest of
the organization.
Pro: The business is a subset of society and must therefore help maintain and
improve the overall welfare of society, profitability and growth go hand-in-hand
with responsible treatment of employees, customers, and the community, and it
leads to revenue growth.
Con: Making managers responsible for profit and the betterment of society is a
conflict of interest, its not your money you are spending its the shareholders.
I think it is necessary for companies to have a balance. At the end of the day, I do
believe that it is the shareholders money that the company is using, and although
it is always nice to help others, if you are doing it at the expense of your
shareholders, you will end up with no company at all. On the other hand,
however, every company must somehow contribute at least a little to society. If
not by actively helping a charity out, they should at least do preventative
measures and not hurt the environment. Solely by existing, companies employ
many people, giving them jobs and a livelihood.

6. What are Hofstedes dimensions of culture? Identify and

define each. What is it important to understand these
different dimensions when managing an
international/global business?

Power distance: the degree to which a society promotes an unequal distribution

of power. Countries that highly promote power distance have citizenry that tends
to emphasize, expect, and accept more autocratic than democratic.
Uncertainty avoidance: the extent to which a society feels threatened by
uncertain or unpredictable situations. Countries that are high in uncertainty
avoidance prefer being in more defined and predictable situations.
Individualism and collectivism: the degree to which people in a society operate
primarily as individuals or within groups. People who operate as individuals tend
to focus on meeting their own needs and succeed by competing with others.

People who operate collectively tend to build relationships among others and
downplay individualism.
Masculinity and feminity: the extent to which a culture emphasizes traditional
masculine or feminine values. Traditional masculine values place a high worth on
factors like competitiveness, assertiveness, success an wealth, while traditional
feminine values place a high worth on factors like caring for others and increasing
the quality of life.
Short-term and long-term orientation: the degree to which a culture
deemphasizes short-run success to achieve long-run success. Cultures that focus
more on long-run success emphasize activities like planning, education,
rewarding long-run results and keeping a future oriented perspective. Companies
that focus more on short-run success emphasize training to enable one do a job
now, rewarding short-run results and maintaining a day-to-day perspective.
When managing an international/global business, it is important to recognize the
differences in each country, and to cater to them individually. When you employ
one strategy across the board, it will not work because of the differences in these
aspects. Managers need to know how to properly connect and motivate their
employees to do the best possible job.

7. Identify and define (in appropriate order) the steps in the

planning process.
1. State organizational objectives: this is necessary before planning can begin.
Often planners examine important elements of the environment of their
organizations, such as the overall economy or competitors, when forming
objectives.
2. List alternative ways of reaching objectives: once an objective is clearly
stated, they should list as many available alternatives as possible for reaching
those objectives.
3. Develop premises on which to base each alternative: list all the premises and
assumptions it would take to be accurate for each alternative way to succeed.
4. Choose the best alternative for reaching objectives: look at all the
alternatives and exclude the ones that have unreasonable premises, ad then
choose which one would best accomplish the objective
5. Develop plans to pursue the chosen alternative: develop strategic (longrange) and tactical (short-range) plans.
6. Put the plans into action: implement the plans.
8. Define motivation. Define important motivation theories
as described in the book. What are the important
aspects/factors associated with each theory?

Motivation is the inner state that causes an individual to behave

in a way that ensures the accomplishment of some goal. Four
important motivation theories are:
Needs-goal theory: Motivation begins with an individual
feeling a need. The need is transformed into behavior
directed at supporting or allowing the need to be satisfied.
Vroom expectancy theory: based on the premise that
felt needs cause human behavior. Aldo addresses
motivation strength an individuals degree of desire to
perform a behavior.
Equity theory: looks at an individuals perceived fairness
of an employment situation and finds that perceived
inequities can lead to changes in behavior.
Porter-Lawler Theory of Motivation: accepts the
premises that felt needs cause human behavior and that
effort expended to accomplish a task is determined by the
perceived value of rewards that will result from finishing
the task and the probability that those rewards will
materialize.
9. Groups are important to organizations. Define formal
groups and the different types of formal groups. Also,
identify and explain the formal group development
process.
A formal group is a group that exists within an organization by
virtue of management decree to perform tasks that enhance the
attainment of organizational objectives. Within formal groups,
there are command groups, which is outlined in the chain of
command on an organization chart, and a task group, which is a
group who interacts with one another to accomplish non routine
tasks. The formal group development process includes: The
Acceptance Stage, when the initial mistrust melts and the group
transforms into one of mutual trust and acceptance; The
Communication and Decision Making Stage, where the group
members all communicate well with each other; The Group
Solidarity Stage, where the members become more involved in
group activities and cooperate, rather than compete, with one
another. The Group Control Stage is when they attempt to
maximize the group success by matching individual abilities with
group activities and they assist each other at this stage, theres
usually flexibility and informality.
10.
What is organizational culture? Why is it important
to understand culture? Explain why understanding

corporate culture is important in the hiring process? Why

is it important for YOU to understand corporate culture
when deciding to take a job?
Organizational culture is a set of shared values that organization
members have regarding the functioning and existence of their
organization. Organization culture evolves slowly over time. It is
important for managers to understand the culture so that they
can have an impact on encouraging behavior of the organization
members that will lead to organizational success. In the hiring
process, they need to make sure to hire someone who
understands and fits into the culture. In a fast-paced
environment, someone who likes to work slow and take their
time will get flustered. It is important for me to understand to
ensure that I like and can fit into the environment.
11.
What is the creative process? Why is it important to
understand it? What is the Time pressure/Creativity
Matrix? How is it useful for managers?
Creativity is the ability to generate original ideas or new
perspectives on existing ideas. Creativity also involves seeing
issues from different angles and breaking away from old rules
and norms that bind us to traditional methods of accomplishing
tasks thats why its so important to understand. Creativity is
the source of new ideas on how to meet such challenges so
managers should view creativity as a vital element for ensuring
organizational success. The time pressure/creativity matrix
illustrates how managers can either encourage or discourage the
likelihood of creative thinking in organizations depending on how
high and low time pressures are combines with various
organizational factors. According to this matrix, given the
condition of low time pressure, the likelihood of creativity in an
organization could be low if the workers feel they are on autopilot
and get little encouragement to be creative but if could also be
high if people feel they are on an expedition and are more for
exploring ideas. It is useful to managers to understand how
people think and work the more creative people feel like they
are on a mission or journey so managers should strive to create
that atmosphere.