 |
| 1 | |
Which of the following is not one of the principal managerial components of the strategy execution process? |
| | A) | Building an organization with the competencies, capabilities, and resource strengths needed to execute the strategy successfully. |
| | B) | Ensuring that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede strategy execution |
| | C) | Reducing the layers of management to a bare minimum and making sure employees are empowered |
| | D) | Adopting best practices and pushing for continuous improvement in how value chain activities are performed |
| | E) | Shaping the work environment and corporate culture in ways that facilitate and support good strategy execution |
|
|
|
| 2 | |
Managerial efforts to implement and execute a company's strategy |
| | A) | can be considered successful if things go well enough that the company meets or beats its strategic and financial performance targets and shows good progress in achieving its strategic vision. |
| | B) | is something that pretty much has to be done by the chief executive officer and the heads of major organizational units (business divisions, functional departments, and key operating units). |
| | C) | is widely considered to be harder and more managerially demanding than crafting strategy because it takes longer, involves more people, and utilizes more organizational resources. |
| | D) | involve a company's whole management team, not a few senior managers, because every manager needs to be concerned with what has to be done differently or better in his/her area of authority to implement/execute the company's strategy successfully. |
| | E) | Both A and D. |
|
|
|
| 3 | |
The three components of building a capable organization are |
| | A) | empowering employees, shortening the value chain, and developing the appropriate competencies and capabilities. |
| | B) | staffing the organization, building core competencies and competitive capabilities, and structuring the organization and work effort. |
| | C) | properly centralizing the decision-making structure in place, training employees in the use of best practices, and cutting unnecessary costs out of the value chain. |
| | D) | creating an adaptive corporate culture, instilling strategy-supportive core values and operating practices, and hiring a strong and capable management team. |
| | E) | creating a strong and strategy-supportive corporate culture, optimizing the number and types of core competencies and competitive capabilities, and instituting effective employee training programs. |
|
|
|
| 4 | |
Which of the following is generally not among the practices that companies use to develop a strong knowledge base and build the intellectual capital needed for successful strategy execution? |
| | A) | Coaching average performers to improve their skills and capabilities, while weeding out underperformers and benchwarmers |
| | B) | Rotating employees through a series of skills-stretching jobs |
| | C) | Giving employees sizable across-the-board wage or salary increases almost every year so as to minimize employee turnover and promote the creation of an experienced work force |
| | D) | Encouraging employees to be creative and innovative along with giving people skills-stretching assignments and rotating them through jobs that not only have great content but also span functional and geographic boundaries |
| | E) | Fostering a stimulating and engaging work environment such that employees will consider the company a great place to work |
|
|
|
| 5 | |
Building core competencies and strong organizational capabilities in performing one or more strategy-critical activities in the value chain |
| | A) | is primarily the responsibility of (1) the employee training department and (2) first-line supervisors—there's really not much that senior managers can do beyond that of funding adequate employee training and supporting the efforts of first-line supervisors to get company employees to do things better. |
| | B) | is best and most cost-effectively accomplished by putting people with the right talent and expertise together in a single work group, and then teaming the efforts of the work group with key strategic allies/partners. |
| | C) | requires spending more money and having more people (as compared to rivals) performing the value chain activities where core competencies and competitive capabilities are needed. |
| | D) | is an ongoing exercise because of the imperatives of keeping competencies and capabilities in step with ongoing strategy and market changes; as a consequence, it is appropriate to view a company as a bundle of evolving competencies and capabilities. |
| | E) | is basically a team-building exercise and should be the first thing managers do in establishing an organizational structure for performing value chain activities. |
|
|
|
| 6 | |
Core competencies and competitive capabilities |
| | A) | usually are a product of the specialized skills or work efforts of a single department. |
| | B) | tend to be bundles of skills and know-how growing out of the combined efforts of cross-functional work groups and departments performing complementary activities at different value chain locations. |
| | C) | can be leveraged into competitive advantage by concentrating more effort and more talent than rivals on deepening and strengthening the competencies/capabilities, so as to outmatch the competencies/capabilities that rivals have. |
| | D) | are hard to translate into sustainable competitive advantage because they can usually be copied or matched by rivals within less than a year (provided rivals exert concerted effort). |
| | E) | Both B and C. |
|
|
|
| 7 | |
Which one of the following is not part of structuring the work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution? |
| | A) | Deciding which value chain activities to perform internally and which ones to outsource, if any |
| | B) | Providing for both internal cross-unit coordination and needed collaboration with suppliers and strategic allies |
| | C) | Determining how much authority to centralize at the top and how much to delegate to down-the-line managers and employees |
| | D) | Forming a special department or work unit to lead the company's effort to capture strategic and resource fits |
| | E) | Making internally performed strategy-critical value chain activities the main building blocks in the organization structure |
|
|
|
| 8 | |
In determining the degrees of authority and independence to give each organizational unit, |
| | A) | it is better to rely more on the principle of centralized authority than to risk pushing decision-making authority down to lower-level managers and employees (who may be ill-equipped or unwilling to take on added responsibility). |
| | B) | experience proves that a centralized vertical structure is superior to a decentralized horizontal structure. |
| | C) | the recent trend is for companies to shift away from authoritarian, multilayered hierarchical structures to flatter, more decentralized structures that stress employee empowerment. |
| | D) | centralizing authority in a few senior executives is the most reliable way to shorten decision times and respond most quickly and decisively to events as they unfold (the greater the strategic need for short decision response times, the more that authority needs to be centralized). |
| | E) | it is increasingly clear that new ideas, creative thinking, and innovation thrive in a centralized organizational structure where employees are empowered as compared to a decentralized command-and-control organizational structure. |
|
|
|
| 9 | |
In trying to structure a company's work effort in ways that promote successful strategy execution, a company may find that |
| | A) | outsourcing the performance of certain value chain activities can result in a flatter organizational structure, downsized internal bureaucracies, and increased competitive responsiveness, plus outsourcing makes strategic sense whenever outsiders can perform particular activities cheaper or better than a company can perform them internally. |
| | B) | outsourcing works well only for activities where minimal interdepartmental cooperation is needed. |
| | C) | outsourcing the performance of certain value chain activities turns out to be risky or disadvantageous if it results in "hollowing out" a company, leaving it at the mercy of outside suppliers and/or short of the resource strengths needed to be a master of its own destiny. |
| | D) | outsourcing the performance of certain value chain activities makes it easier to structure the organization into efficiently-sized departments and work groups but has the disadvantage of hindering the development of managers with cross-functional experience. |
| | E) | Both A and C |
|
|
|
| 10 | |
In a highly centralized organizational structure, |
| | A) | top executives retain authority over most strategic and operating decisions and wield tight control over the amount of discretionary decision-making authority they delegate to business-unit heads, department heads, and the managers of key operating units. |
| | B) | top management operates on the belief that strict enforcement of detailed procedures backed by rigorous managerial oversight is the most reliable way to keep the daily execution of strategy on track. |
| | C) | tight control from the top makes it easy to fix accountability when things do not go well. |
| | D) | there is an assumption that most company personnel have neither the time nor the inclination to direct and properly control the work they are performing and that they lack the knowledge and judgment to make wise decisions about how best to do their work. |
| | E) | All of these. |
|
|
|
| 11 | |
The basic tenets of a decentralized organizational structure include the thesis that |
| | A) | lower-level managers and personnel seldom have the expertise and wisdom to decide what is the wisest and best course of action; hence, tight management control from the top makes the most sense. |
| | B) | a company that draws on the combined intellectual capital of all its people can outperform a command-and-control company. |
| | C) | decision-making authority should be put in the hands of the people closest to and most familiar with the situation, and these people should be trained to exercise good judgment. |
| | D) | most company personnel have neither the time nor the inclination to direct and properly control they work they are performing. |
| | E) | Both B and C. |
|
|
|
| 12 | |
The biggest organizing challenge of pushing decision-making authority deep down into the organizational hierarchy and empowering employees to make decisions in their area of responsibility is |
| | A) | writing the procedures and guidelines that empowered employees need to follow in making decisions (so that they do not end up making poor decisions). |
| | B) | how to avoid high levels of stress and anxiety among empowered employees (since they are held accountable for their decisions). |
| | C) | how to exercise adequate control over the actions and decisions of empowered employees so that the business is not put at risk while trying to capture the benefits of empowerment. |
| | D) | how to identify and weed out those empowered employees who prove to be poor decision-makers. |
| | E) | keeping lower-level managers and employees properly trained in when and how to use the decision authority they have been given. |
|
|
|
| 13 | |
Which one of the following is not a factor of some importance in helping to define the character of a company's corporate culture? |
| | A) | The core values and business principles that management preaches and practices |
| | B) | The company's revered traditions and opt-repeated stories |
| | C) | The company's approach to people management |
| | D) | The operating practices and behaviors that define "how we do things around here" |
| | E) | The strategic vision that management has committed to achieving |
|
|
|
| 14 | |
A culture grounded in values, practices, and behavioral norms that match the behaviors required for good strategy execution |
| | A) | is a powerful ally in managerial efforts to execute the chosen strategy. |
| | B) | is designated as a "strong culture." |
| | C) | promotes strong employee efforts to identify and adopt new best practices. |
| | D) | typically has the beneficial result of producing competencies and competitive capabilities that lead to competitive advantage over rivals. |
| | E) | is generally a culture in which employees are empowered and there is considerable emphasis on teamwork. |
|
|
|
| 15 | |
A tight culture strategy alignment furthers a company's strategy execution effort by |
| | A) | boosting employee morale and job satisfaction. |
| | B) | providing company personnel with clear guidance regarding what behaviors constitute good job performance and generating significant peer pressures from company co-workers to conform to culturally acceptable norms—as a consequence, culturally-approved behavior thrives and culturally-disapproved behavior gets squashed. |
| | C) | facilitating the achievement of stretch objectives and enhancing the company's approach to people management. |
| | D) | making the company a "great place to work." |
| | E) | making it easy to incorporate the company culture into the company's strategic vision. |
|
|
|
| 16 | |
A company's culture can be said to be strong and cohesive when |
| | A) | the company conducts its business according to a clear and explicit set of principles and values; management devotes considerable time to communicating these principles and values to organizational members and explaining how they relate to the company's business environment; and the principles and values are widely shared by company personnel and deeply rooted in the company's operating practices. |
| | B) | employee turnover rates are low, most all employees are familiar with the company's values and ways of operating, and a majority of employees have high levels of job satisfaction. |
| | C) | the CEO has exercised effective leadership for a number of years and stretch objectives are being achieved consistently. |
| | D) | the company makes a conscious and ongoing effort to dismiss employees who disavow the company's values, principles, and cultural beliefs. |
| | E) | All of the above are signals of a strong-culture company. |
|
|
|
| 17 | |
Which one of the following is the most typical characteristic of a weak company culture? |
| | A) | A highly centralized managerial hierarchy and a big corporate bureaucracy |
| | B) | A low commitment to high ethical standards and behaving in a socially responsible manner |
| | C) | Few strong traditions and values that are consistently preached or widely shared and few behavioral norms that are widely observed in conducting company operations |
| | D) | Low employee morale and considerable employee skepticism about the merits of the company's strategy |
| | E) | Dissatisfaction on the part of company personnel with the core values that senior management is advocating. |
|
|
|
| 18 | |
Adaptive cultures are characterized by such traits as |
| | A) | leaders who are more strongly committed to timeless business principles and the well-being of organizational stakeholders than to any specific business strategy or operating practice. |
| | B) | personnel who are receptive to risk-taking, experimentation, innovation, and changing to new strategies and operating practices, provided that the new behaviors and operating practices that management is advocating are seen as legitimate and consistent with core vales and business principles. |
| | C) | a proactive approach to identifying issues, evaluating the implications and options, and implementing workable solutions and strong adherence to promoting people from within the company. |
| | D) | encouraging and rewarding entrepreneurship and openly supporting managers and employees at all ranks who propose or help initiate useful change. |
| | E) | All of these. |
|
|
|
| 19 | |
Which of the following is usually not a part of managerial efforts to root out unwanted cultural norms and behaviors and replace them with norms and behaviors that will help promote better strategy execution? |
| | A) | Altering incentive compensation programs to reward the desired cultural behavior and deny rewards to those who resist change Instituting employee recognition programs (such as employee of the month awards and individual achievement awards) to call everyone's attention to behaviors that reflect the desired cultural norms |
| | B) | Convincing skeptics that all is not well with the status quo and repeating at every opportunity the message of why cultural change is good for company stakeholders |
| | C) | Preparing a detailed rules and procedure manual that all managers and employees can refer to in trying to practice the desired cultural norms and behavior |
| | D) | Replacing managers who are strongly associated with the old culture with managers who have the desired cultural values and can serve as role models for the desired new cultural behavior |
| | E) | Visibly praising and generously rewarding people who display newly advocated cultural norms and who participate in implementing the desired kinds of operating practices |
|
|
|
| 20 | |
Which one of the following is not accurate as concerns changing a company's culture and better aligning it with the requirements for strategic success? |
| | A) | Changing a company's culture and trying to align it with the requirements for strategic success are among the toughest management tasks and requires visible, aggressive actions, both symbolic and substantive, to modify the culture. |
| | B) | Changing a company's culture and aligning it with the requirements for strategic success entails identifying which facets of the present culture are strategy-supportive and which are not, then clearly defining the desired new cultural behaviors and the key features of the "new" culture. |
| | C) | Changing a company's culture and aligning it with the requirements for strategic success involves open and candid communication among all concerned about the problems of the present culture and how new behaviors will improve performance. |
| | D) | Changing a company's culture and trying to align it with the requirements for strategic success generally requires instituting a new values statement, adopting most of the traits of an adaptive culture, and retraining managers in the ways and means of convincing employees to adopt new behaviors. |
| | E) | The single most visible factor that distinguishes successful culture-change efforts from failed attempts is competent leadership on the part of senior executives, most especially the CEO. |
|
|
.