Essay About Study Of Management And Competitive Advantage

Midterm Study Guide
MGMT1120 MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE[pic 1]Your midterm exam will involve the following chapters from your textbook:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 13.  Please check the “Textbook Course Material” document on Moodle for the exact pages covered in each chapter.Concepts to cover when studying:What is a Manager?Levels of ManagementManagerial PerformanceUpside-down PyramidWhat is Intellectual Capital?What is Workforce Diversity and what are its components?  What is an Organization and how can it be considered an Open System?Public Organizations vs. Not-For-Profit OrganizationsHow do Efficiency and Effectiveness impact the productivity of an organization?What are the organizational trends and transitions that are relevant to your study of management? CREST!Who are Stakeholders and why are they important to managers?What is Competitive Advantage, how can it be achieved and why is it important?  What is Environmental Uncertainty and why do managers want to avoid this?Organizational Effectiveness – what is this and what are the ways it can be viewed and analyzed?What are the Four Functions of Management?  (Hint:  POLC)What are the 10 Managerial Roles?  What are the 3 Essential Managerial Skills and why are they important?How does a manager develop Managerial Competencies?[pic 2]What is Quantitative Analysis and why do managers need to be able to do this?How can an Organization be considered a System?  Why do managers need to be well versed in Contingency Thinking?What is Quality Management and how has this affected management practices in general?Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning – why are these needed in today’s technology driven world?Why would a manager want to utilize Evidence-Based Management processes?What are some of the attributes necessary for the 21st Century Manager?[pic 3]What are Ethics and Ethical Behaviour?  How are they related to Laws and Values?What are the four Alternative Views of Ethics?What are Cultural Relativism and Universalism and why is this important to managers?What are some examples of Ethical Dilemmas?What is an Ethical Framework and how does it relate to Ethics Culture and Industry Norms?What are the common Rationalizations for Unethical Behaviour?How can managers deal with unethical behaviour in the workplace?What are Social Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability?How can a corporation evaluate its Social Performance?How can an organization upgrade its Social Performance?What are some of the reasons why an organization would want to focus on Sustainability?[pic 4][pic 5]What is Entrepreneurship?  Why would someone want to be one?What is an Entrepreneur?  What are some of their characteristics?What are the types of Small Businesses?Why do many small businesses fail?  What can be learned from these failures?Life Cycle of Entrepreneurial CompaniesThere are different Forms of Business Ownership?  What are they?  There are different ways to Finance a New Venture.   What are they?  [pic 6]Planning is important.  Why do managers need to Plan?What are Objectives and why do managers need these as part of the planning process?What are the managerial benefits planning can provide?What Types of Plans do managers use?What are Useful Planning Tools that managers can use?SMART!Goal Setting and Goal Alignment – what are they and why are they important?What is Management By Objectives (MBO)?  What are the three steps?Pros and Cons?What is Participatory Planning and why would a manager want this to happen?[pic 7]What is Strategic Management and why is it important to managers?Strategy and Strategic IntentWhat is Competitive Advantage?Common typesSignificanceWhat are the Three Levels of Strategy in organizations?Strategic Analysis – what is this and why is it done?Mission / Stakeholders, Values and ObjectivesPorter’s Five Forces Model!Corporate Level Strategy Formulation StrategiesGrand / Master Growth & Diversification Restructuring Global Cooperative E-Business Portfolio Planning / BCG MatrixBusiness Level Strategy Formulation StrategiesCompetitive[pic 8]Porter’s Competitive Strategies FrameworkDifferentiationCost LeadershipFocusStrategic IncrementalismStrategy ImplementationManagement Practices and SystemsCorporate GovernanceStrategic ControlStrategic Leadership[pic 9]What are Global Businesses and what do they do?Why and how do companies go global?What are some of the issues managers have to consider in Global Business Environments?[pic 10]What are the advantages IT gives to Managers throughout the management process (CLOP)?How can IT help managers solve problems in their organizations?How can IT sometimes get in the way of problem solving?What are the different ways of thinking that managers may exhibit when problem solving?What are the characteristics of these ways of thinking?What are cognitive styles?What are the characteristics of the four different cognitive styles?How can managers use these cognitive styles to help with decision-making?Structured Problems vs. Unstructured ProblemsWhat are the characteristics of each and what type of decisions can be used to deal with these types of problems?What is a Crisis Decision?  [pic 11]What are the Six Rules for Crisis Management?How could a manager try to anticipate a crisis?  What then?What are the three different decision conditions?   What are their characteristics?Why do managers have to know about this?What are the five steps of the Decision Making Process?What are their characteristics?Why do managers have to know about this?Don’t forget to do the Study Questions and the Self-Test, and be able to define the Key Terms listed at the end of each chapter.  Good luck!