1. What are the challenges that managers face in today's competitive world?

We are living in an era of accelerating global competition. Pressures from foreign companies are causing many managers to reassess their approaches as they strive to be successful in a formidable competitive environment. More than ever, managers operating both globally and domestically require the best ideas that the field of management has to offer in order to gain a competitive edge.

2. Describe each of the major functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Management is the process of achieving organizational goals by engaging in the four major functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Planning is the management function that involves setting goals and deciding how best to achieve them.

Organizing is the management function that focuses on allocating and arranging human and non-human resources so that plans can be carried out successfully.

Leading is the management function that involves influencing others to engage in the work behaviours necessary to reach organizational goals.

Controlling is the management function aimed at regulating organizational activities

3. What is the nature of work agenda and its three main factors?

A work agenda is a loosely connected set of tentative goals and tasks that a manager is attempting to accomplish.

There are three main factors that are likely to have an impact on a manager's work agenda: demands, constraints, and choices.

Job demands are the activities a manager must do in a job.

Job constraints are the factors, both inside and outside the organization, that limit what a manager can do.

Constraints include such variables as resource limitations, legal restrictions, union contract provisions.

Job choices are work activities that the manager can do but does not have to do.

4. What roles do managers act out at various times?

You are already familiar with some of the crucial roles required of managers - because you are already a veteran of many different relationships that have evolved over your life thus far! In your ties with your family, friends, classmates, and co-workers, sometimes you lead, sometimes you act as a go-between or liaison, and sometimes others look to you as a symbol of some worthwhile trait such as honesty or willingness to work hard. In these same relationships, you monitor what is going on outside the relationship, share information with your partners, and even act as a spokesperson for them. Furthermore, you sometimes take the initiative, sometimes handle disagreements, sometimes allocate resources such as money, and sometimes negotiate with your collaborators.

5. Explain why a knowledge base and key management skills are important to managers.

All managers need a sound knowledgebase and key management skills. A knowledge base can include information about an industry and its technology, company policies and practices, company goals and plans, company culture, the personalities of key organization members, and important suppliers and customers. In addition to having a knowledge base, managers need certain skills to carry out the various functions of management.

For managers, three types of skills are necessary: technical, human, and conceptual.

Technical skills are skills that reflect both an understanding of and a proficiency in a specialized field.

Human skills are skills associated with a manager’s ability to work well with others, both as a member of a group and as a leader.

Conceptual skills are skills related to the ability to visualize the organization as a whole.

Conceptual skills, coupled with technical skills, human skills, and a knowledge base, are important ingredients in organizational performance.

6. Describe and compare three management levels.

Managers can practice at different levels in an organization and with different ranges of organizational activities.

First-line managers. The lowest level in an organization at which individuals are responsible for the work of others is called first-line or first-level management. First-line managers direct non-management employees; they do not supervise other managers.

Middle managers direct the activities of lower-level managers and sometimes those of operating employees as well.

Composed of a comparatively small group of people, top management is responsible for the overall management of an organization. They establish operating policies and guide the organization's interactions with its environment.

7. What is the difference between functional and general managers?

There is a classification of managers that depends on the scope of activities they manage.

Functional managers. The functional manager is responsible for only one functional area, such as production, marketing, or finance.

General managers. The general manager, on the other hand, oversees a complex unit, such as a company, a subsidiary, or an independent operating division. He or she is responsible for all the activities of that unit, such as its production, marketing, and finance.

It is important to remember that functional and general managers alike plan, organize, lead, and control relationships over time. The difference, again, is in the scope of activities that they oversee.

8. Explain the difference between functional, divisional, and matrix structures.

Organizational structure can be divided into three broad categories. The first is organization based on function. The second is the divisional structure, based on products, brands or regions. Third, there is the organizational structure based on a matrix, the aim of which is to bring together the benefits of the other types.

The functional approach to organization starts from the premise that all business activities can be looked at in terms of functions. Functions depend in part on the type of business. So, all firms need finance, human resource management, and marketing functions. The structure of an organization based on functional departments is presented in the figure below.

When a company has grown to the extent that it has a number of successful products in different regions, it may structure the organization into business units or divisions, which may be based on product, brand, or geographical region/area, as indicated in the figure below.

The principle is that each division is headed by a division manager who has responsibility for managing the division as a profit centre in its own right. The division itself may be a separate company, known as a subsidiary company, whose major shareholder is the parent company.

The matrix is a way of structuring the organization to incorporate the benefits of other types of structure, such as the functional organization, product divisions and area divisions. It involves two lines of management – product and regional.

9. How does organizational structure of a business influence the activities and success of the business?

10. Explain the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations.

Centralized organizations are organizations in which there is a hierarchy. A hierarchy essentially differentiates people in terms of power in a vertical fashion. Those at the top are the chief decision-makers in the organization, whereas those at the bottom, who carry out the routine activities of the business, have little decision-making power. There may be many layers of management and supervision in between.

Decentralized organizations often have a flat structure. Power to take decisions may be decentralized from top to lower levels, through empowerment, one of the major developments in HRM thinking. Empowerment holds that employees at all levels in the organization are responsible for their own actions, and should be given authority to make decisions about their work.