Mgmt 505 – Niu Fasttrak Mba Final Exam Study Guide

MGMT 505 – NIU FastTrak MBA Final Exam Study Guide

The following guide is intended to help you prepare for the final exam. While it is not intended to supplant the text as a resource, it will guide your preparation and aid you in focusing on the topics that will be covered on the exam. The exam will be comprised of a combination of true-false, multiple choice, matching and short answer items.

Chapter 1 – Managing and Performing

Be able to respond to a general question which might ask you to describe the challenges of managing in the current competitive landscape.

Know the bases for managing for competitive advantage. Innovation, quality, service, speed, cost competitiveness, sustainability. Innovation- introduction of new goods and services. Quality-excellence of goods and services, customers’ satisfaction. Service-the speed and dependability with which an organization delivers what customer wants. Speed-fast and timey execution. Cost Competitiveness- Keeping costs low to generate profit and be able to offer prices to attract the customers. Sustainability-The effort to minimize the use of resources, especially to the ones polluting and nonrenewable.

Know the four basic management functions. Planning, Organizing, Leadership, and Controlling.  Planning- the management function of systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue. Organizing- Assembling and contributing the human, financial, physical, informational and other resources needed to achieve goals. Specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units. Leaden- Stimulating people to be high performers. Controlling- Monitoring performance and making needed changes.
Understand the idea of management levels and how management roles have evolved and how they vary across levels.  3 Main differnet organizational levels. Top-Level, Middle level, and Frontline. Top-Level- managers are the senior executive responsible for management and effectiveness of the organization. Ex. (CEO, COO, CIO). Middle-lelvel Management-managers located in the middle layrs of organization hierarchy, reporting to top executives. Closer to executives and frontline with creative ideas. Frontline- lower level management who supervise the operational activities of the organization. Link between management and nonmenagment personnel.

Chapter 2 – The External and Internal Environments

What is meant by the “macroenvironment”?The general environment inculeds governamets, economic conditions, and other fundamental factors that generally affect all organization.

 What are some of the elements of the macroenvironment? Political, economic, demographic, social and natural factors which generally affect all organizations,  What are the five elements of the “competitive environment” (counting substitutes and complements Competitors, New new entrants, substitues and complements (buying less of one product than another, and buy more  of given product to demand more of the complementary product), Suppliers, and Customers.