Essentials of Management. 3 September Examination Paper. Time: 3 hours

Transcription

1 Essentials of Management 3 September 201 Examination Paper Section A Section B You must answer this question. Answer any TWO (2) questions from this section. Clearly cross out surplus answers. Failure to do this will result in only the first TWO (2) answers being marked. Time: 3 hours The maximum mark for this paper is 100. Any reference material brought into the examination room must be handed to the invigilator before the start of the examination.

2 Question 1 Section A You must answer this question You have recently been appointed as the Production Manager for a business that manufactures a range of glassware for the drinks industry, including bottles for water, soft drinks, beer and wine, and a variety of drinking glasses, jugs and pitchers. The company has recently started to offer personalised glasses and bottles which can be produced for customers who require a minimum of 1,000 units. These have proved very popular for use in marketing campaigns and product launches. The glass production industry is extremely competitive and, as a result, the profit margins are extremely tight as customers are in a position to force down prices. However, the new personalised offerings enable the business to generate higher margins and are therefore attractive to the management of the company. Currently sales of the personalised glassware account for just % of the annual turnover of the company, but the plan is to increase this to 0% of the turnover over the next five years. You have been appointed to address a number of problems that the business has been experiencing recently. Specifically these are: The Directors are concerned that the company does not achieve the same levels of output, in terms of both quality and quantity as its competitors and is therefore struggling to attract new customers. The supervisors involved in the manufacturing processes have been failing to meet their agreed targets, particularly for the new range of personalised glassware. This is because of problems with the short production runs have frequently resulted in poor quality outputs and excessive wastage, which has resulted in higher production costs and thus lower margins. In addition, many of the problems were not spotted until the personalised glassware was actually delivered, resulting in a number of customer complaints and resultant rework. The employees are unhappy about the introduction of the new personalised glassware as it is a change in the way that they usually work and they are concerned that staffing levels may be cut as a result. These concerns have also resulted in many members of staff displaying a general lack of motivation and the Directors are concerned about their overall commitment to ensuring the long term success of the company. The Board of Directors of the company have asked how you intend to address these specific issues. Page 2 of

3 a) You have decided that implementing appropriate controls is an essential first step in ensuring that the organisational goals are met and the concerns of the Directors are resolved. i) Draw and label a diagram that describes the steps in the control process. ii) List and briefly describe the THREE (3) different management controls that you could potentially implement and give your recommendation for which one you believe should be selected to address the company s current manufacturing problems. 12 iii) Explain how you plan to identify why the company does not achieve the same levels of output, in terms of both quality and quantity as its competitors. b) Gaining the trust of the employees will be essential. List the FIVE () dimensions that make up the concept of trust and, for each, explain why this will be important with many of the employees currently disillusioned with their jobs. 10 c) A lack of both employee motivation and commitment to the organisation have been identified as major concerns by the Directors of the company. i) Define the term motivation. 2 ii) List and describe THREE types of reward programmes that can be used to motivate employee behaviour. 9 iii) You need to consider how to improve organisational commitment of the company s employees by addressing the following points: Define what is meant by organisational commitment List THREE (3) benefits to the company of improving the organisational commitment of employees List THREE (3) actions you could take that you believe would result in an improvement to organisational commitment 8 Total 0 Page 3 of

4 Section B Answer any TWO (2) questions from this section Question 2 a) Describe Frederick W. Taylor s Four Principles of Management and give TWO (2) examples of how these principles are used in organisations today. b) Give the full names of TWO (2) of the researchers who were early advocates of the organisational behaviour (OB) approach to management c) List the EIGHT (8) steps in the decision making process in the correct order. d) How can the five whys improve decision making? e) Why is it important that the Strategic Management Process concludes with an evaluation of the results? Total 2 Question 3 a) List the FOUR () managerial decisional roles that were identified by Henry Mintzberg. b) Compare and contrast programmed and non-programmed decisions. 8 c) Two of the characteristics of effective decision making are be logical and consistent. Briefly explain why these characteristics are important and the problems that may arise if these are lacking. d) List the FIVE () competitive forces that were identified by Michael Porter in his Five Forces Model. e) Competitive advantage plays a key role in the development of business-level strategies. Briefly explain why this is the case. Total 2 Page of

5 Question a) Max Weber developed a theory describing the ideal type of organisation, which he called a bureaucracy. List the FIVE () main characteristics of Weber s bureaucracy. b) Why are human skills essential for a successful manager? c) Briefly explain why an organisation would adopt a cost leadership strategy and list THREE (3) common organisational requirements of such a strategy. 6 d) Briefly explain why an organisation would adopt a renewal strategy and list the TWO (2) main types of such a strategy. e) What is an escalation of commitment and why can it pose problems for decision makers? Total 2 End of paper Page of