WGU C483 - Principles of Management Exam Questions And Answers

Accommodation - ANS A style of dealing with conflict involving cooperation on behalf of the other party but not being assertive about one's own interests Accountability - ANS The expectation that employees will perform a job, take corrective action when necessary, and report upward on the status and quality of their performance Accounting audits - ANS Procedures used to verify accounting reports and statements Acquisition - ANS One firm buying another Activity-based costing (ABC) - ANS A method of cost accounting designed to identify streams of activity and then to allocate costs across particular business processes according to the amount of time employees devote to particular activities Adapters - ANS Companies that take the current industry structure and its evolution as givens, and choose where to compete Adverse impact - ANS When a seemingly neutral employment practice has a disproportionately negative effect on a protected group Advertising support model - ANS Charging fees to advertise on a site Affective conflict - ANS Emotional disagreement directed toward other people Affiliate model - ANS Charging fees to direct site visitors to other companies' sites Affirmative action - ANS Special efforts to recruit and hire qualified members of groups that have been discriminated against in the past After-action review - ANS A frank and open-minded discussion of four basic questions aimed at continuous improvement Alderfer's ERG theory - ANS A human needs theory postulating that people have three basic sets of needs that can operate simultaneously (Existence, Relatedness and Growth) Arbitration - ANS The use of a neutral third party to resolve a labor dispute Assessment center - ANS A managerial performance test in which candidates participate in a variety of exercises and situations Assets - ANS The values of the various items the corporation owns Authentic leadership - ANS A style in which the leader is true to himself or herself while leading Authority - ANS The legitimate right to make decisions and to tell other people what to do Autocratic leadership - ANS A form of leadership in which the leader makes decisions on his or her own and then announces those decisions to the group Autonomous work groups - ANS Groups that control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks Avoidance - ANS A reaction to conflict that involves ignoring the problem by doing nothing at all or deemphasizing the disagreement Balanced scorecard - ANS Control system combining four sets of performance measures: financial, customer, business process, and learning and growth Balance sheet - ANS A report that shows the financial picture of a company at a given time and itemizes assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity Barriers to entry - ANS Conditions that prevent new companies from entering an industry Behavioral approach - ANS A leadership perspective that attempts to identify what good leaders do—that is, what behaviors they exhibit Benchmarking - ANS The process of comparing an organization's practices and technologies with those of other companies Bootlegging - ANS Informal work on projects, other than those officially assigned, of employees' own choosing and initiative Boundaryless organization - ANS Organization in which there are no barriers to information flow Boundary-spanning - ANS Interacting with people in other groups, thus creating linkages between groups Bounded rationality - ANS A less-than-perfect form of rationality in which decision makers cannot be perfectly rational because decisions are complex and complete information is unavailable or cannot be fully processed Brainstorming - ANS A process in which group members generate as many ideas about a problem as they can; criticism is withheld until all ideas have been proposed Broker - ANS A person who assembles and coordinates participants in a network Budgeting - ANS The process of investigating what is being done and comparing the results with the corresponding budget data to verify accomplishments or remedy differences; also called budgetary controlling Buffering - ANS Creating supplies of excess resources in case of unpredictable needs Bureaucratic control - ANS The use of rules, regulations, and authority to guide performance Business accelerators - ANS Organization that provides support and advice to help young businesses grow Business ethics - ANS The moral principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business Business incubators - ANS Protected environments for new, small businesses Business plan - ANS A formal planning step that focuses on the entire venture and describes all the elements involved in starting it Business strategy - ANS The major actions by which a business competes in a particular industry or market Cafeteria benefit program - ANS An employee benefit program in which employees choose from a menu of options to create a benefit package tailored to their needs Carbon footprint - ANS The output of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases Caux Principles - ANS Ethical principles established by international executives based in Caux, Switzerland, in collaboration with business leaders from Japan, Europe, and the United States Centralized organization - ANS An organization in which high-level executives make most decisions and pass them down to lower levels for implementation Certainty - ANS The state that exists when decision makers have accurate and comprehensive information Charismatic leader - ANS A person who is dominant, self-confident, convinced of the moral righteousness of his or her beliefs, and able to arouse a sense of excitement and adventure in followers Chief information officer (CIO) - ANS Executive in charge of information technology strategy and development Clan control - ANS Control based on the norms, values, shared goals, and trust among group members Coaching - ANS Dialogue with a goal of helping another be more effective and achieve his or her full potential on the job Coalitional model - ANS Model of organizational decision making in which groups with differing preferences use power and negotiation to influence decisions Cognitive conflict - ANS Issue-based differences in perspectives or judgments Cohesiveness - ANS The degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and members influence one another Collaboration - ANS A style of dealing with conflict emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness to maximize both parties' satisfaction Communication - ANS The transmission of information and meaning from one party to another through the use of shared symbols Comparable worth - ANS Principle of equal pay for different jobs of equal worth Competing - ANS A style of dealing with conflict involving strong focus on one's own goals and little or no concern for the other person's goals Competitive environment - ANS The immediate environment surrounding a firm; includes suppliers, customers, rivals, and the like Competitive intelligence - ANS Information that helps managers determine how to compete better