Deck 17: Introduction to Controlling

Question 1

Direct supervision is the best- known form of concurrent control.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Some control criteria, such as employee satisfaction, are applicable to any management situation.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The most frequently used organizational performance measures include liquidity, profitability, leverage, and activity ratios.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Control is the process of monitoring, comparing, and correcting work performance.

Question 5

Effective managers analyze deviations and, when the benefits justify it, take the time to pinpoint and correct the causes of variance.

Question 6

Basic corrective action is aimed at correcting more generalized problems as quickly as possible, leaving more detailed action for later.

Question 7

Performance is the end result of an activity.

Question 8

The value of the control function lies in its relation to organizational structure.

Question 9

What guides managerial decisions in designing strategies and work activities and in coordinating the work of employees is how well the organization meets its goals.

Question 10

The control process is a two- step process that compares actual performance against a standard and takes managerial action to correct deviations or inadequate standards.

Question 11

Concurrent control prevents anticipated problems since it takes place before the actual activity.

Question 12

The key to feedforward controls is taking action while the problem is occurring.

Question 13

In feedback control, the control takes place after the activity is done.

Question 14

Managers need to control to protect the organization and its assets.

Question 15

Deviations that exceed the acceptable range of variation become significant and need the manager's attention.

Question 16

In taking managerial actions, managers must correct actual performance, as it is the only choice.

Question 17

Concurrent control relies on feedback.

Question 18

There are no company rankings in the Arab world similar to Fortune's "Best Companies to Work For".

Question 19

Understating sales is not nearly as troublesome as overstating them.

Question 20

Feedforward provides managers with meaningful information on how effective their planning efforts were.

Question 21

The control process assumes that .

A) employees require constant direction from management
B) employee monitoring costs are part and parcel of doing business
C) performance standards must be created
D) performance standards are already in place

Question 22

When organizations "manage" earnings, they "time" income and expenses to enhance current financial performance.

Question 23

Hawkamah, the Corporate Governance Institute, was established to endorse corporate sector reform and good governance.

Question 24

When a performance indicator can't be stated in quantifiable terms, managers should _.

A) use objective measures
B) have no standards at all
C) ignore the control function
D) use subjective measures

Question 25

What common source of information for measuring performance has the disadvantages of being subject to personal biases, time consuming, and obtrusive?

A) personal observations
B) oral reports
C) written reports
D) statistical reports

Question 26

Managers of foreign companies tend to be less controlled directly by the home office.

Question 27

Managers can focus on measuring only one performance area because it presents them with the big picture.

Question 28

What common source of information for measuring performance has the advantages of being comprehensive, formal, and easy to file and retrieve?

A) statistical reports
B) personal observations
C) oral reports
D) written reports

Question 29

What corrects problems at once to get performance back on track?

A) standard revision
B) basic corrective action
C) immediate corrective action
D) range of variation

Question 30

External controls have been enacted to address some of the problems that have occurred because of "managed" earnings.

Question 31

In the third and final step in the control process, managers can choose between _ possible courses of action in taking managerial action.

A) two
B) five
C) three
D) four

Question 32

Some control criteria need to recognize .

A) and reward exceptional employee performance
B) employees' rights to privacy
C) the costs of monitoring and measuring performance
D) the diversity of activities that managers do

Question 33

What is defined as the acceptable parameters of variance between actual performance and the standard?

A) performance
B) productivity
C) basic corrective action
D) range of variation

Question 34

An example of feedback control is management by walking around.

Question 35

Many managers are tempted to do things themselves and avoid _ .

A) planning
B) controlling
C) empowering
D) leading

Question 36

The first step in the control process is .

A) comparing performance against expectations
B) setting standards
C) measuring performance
D) taking managerial action

Question 37

Employers are allowed by law to tap your work telephone without your knowledge.

Question 38

What is the final step in the management process?

A) planning
B) controlling
C) organizing
D) leading

Question 39

What common source of information for measuring performance has the advantages of being easy to visualize and effective for showing relationships?

A) written reports
B) oral reports
C) statistical reports
D) personal observations

Question 40

What common source of information for measuring performance has the disadvantage of being provided with filtered information that can't be documented?

A) written reports
B) statistical reports
C) personal observations
D) oral reports

Question 41

Which of the following ratios examines an organization's use of debt to finance its assets and its ability to meet the interest payments on the debt?

A) leverage ratios
B) activity ratios
C) conformance ratios
D) liquidity ratios

Question 42

When should the manager's course of action be to revise the standard?

A) When the cause of the variation has been identified
B) When the standard is not acceptable
C) When the standard is acceptable
D) When the variance is acceptable

Question 43

The ratios measure how efficiently a firm is using its assets.

A) leverage
B) activity
C) conformance
D) liquidity

Question 44

Which of the following ratios measures how efficiently and effectively a firm is using its assets to generate profits?

A) conformance ratios
B) profitability ratios
C) liquidity ratios
D) leverage ratios

Question 45

An organization that hires additional personnel as soon as a major contract has been awarded is using which control system?

A) feedback control
B) feedforward control
C) management control
D) concurrent control

Question 46

The most popular type of control is _ control.

A) feedforward
B) feedback
C) concurrent
D) budgetary

Question 47

is a measure of how appropriate organizational goals are and how well an organization is achieving those goals.

A) Environmental scanning
B) Competitor analysis
C) Organizational effectiveness
D) Situational effectiveness

Question 48

Control that takes place while an activity is in progress is known as which of the following?

A) feedforward control
B) feedback control
C) management control
D) concurrent control

Question 49

The Emirates Group reports that it has a diverse workforce comprised of over nationalities.

A) 175
B) 100
C) 150
D) 125

Question 50

The Qatar Financial Markets Authority puts certain requirements on listed companies regarding what they need to disclose in their financial statements. This highlights any problems which the company needs to fix in the future. This describes what type of control?

A) Feedback control
B) Fast- forward control
C) Feedforward control
D) Concurrent control

Question 51

If employees or managers don't meet the standard, the first thing they're likely to accuse is .

A) the standard
B) their coworkers
C) their performance
D) the organization

Question 52

What is the most desirable type of control that prevents anticipated problems?

A) feedforward control
B) fast- forward control
C) concurrent control
D) feedback control

Question 53

When should a manager's course of action be to do nothing?

A) When the cause of the variation has been identified.
B) When the standard is not acceptable.
C) When the variance is acceptable.
D) When the standard is acceptable.

Question 54

is a term used to describe when a manager is out in the work area interacting directly with employees.

A) Direct interaction
B) Work area management
C) Concurrent control
D) Management by walking around

Question 55

Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For are chosen by answers given by thousands of randomly selected employees on a questionnaire called the _.

A) American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI)
B) Kiersey Temperament Sorter
C) Great Place to Work® Trust Index®
D) Economic Analysis Survey

Question 56

Rotana Hotels implements centralization of recruitment; paying special attention to recruitment prevents the company from hiring the wrong people and thus prevents mistakes being made in the future. This describes which type of control?

A) Feedforward control.
B) Fast- forward control.
C) Feedback control.
D) Concurrent control.

Question 57

All of the following are popular company rankings in the Arab world except .

A) "Top 500 Arab Companies"
B) "50 Most Admired Arab Companies"
C) "Top 50 GCC Companies"
D) "Top 100 Arab Workplaces That You Can Trust"

Question 58

The accumulated end results of all the organization's work activities are called _.

A) scenario planning
B) environmental scanning
C) organizational planning
D) organizational performance

Question 59

If a manager investigates how and why performance has deviated beyond the acceptable range of variation, and then corrects the source of the deviation, she is using _ _.

A) immediate corrective action
B) remedial corrective action
C) bureaucratic control
D) basic corrective action

Question 60

The ratios measure an organization's ability to meet its current debt obligations.

A) activity
B) liquidity
C) conformance
D) leverage

Question 61

One reason why it might be hard for a company to compare the labor costs of its facility in Jordan with the labor costs of its facility in Algeria is that _.

A) inflation rates in Jordan are different to those found in Algeria
B) Jordanian employees display different behavior and attitudes to Algerian employees
C) educational levels of the Jordanian employees may be different to those of the Algerian employees
D) the Jordanian facility might be more labor intensive than its Algerian counterpart.

Question 62

Managers monitor electronic mail because .

A) they want to be sure that employees don't spread rumors about the company
B) they are not concerned about employee privacy
C) they are nosy
D) it helps ensure that company trade secrets are not being leaked

Question 63

Which of the following is not related to the meaning of management information systems?

A) The word "system" implies order, arrangement, and purpose.
B) It provides data and information.
C) To be considered a system, it needs to be on a computer and not manually regulated.
D) It provides managerial information on a regular basis.

Question 64

Research suggests that best practices frequently already exist within an organization, .

A) and are being used
B) making formalized benchmarking a redundant and costly task
C) but various managerial biases prevent them from being enacted
D) but often go unidentified

Question 65

Factors that have been found to be linked to workplace violence include _.

A) employee stress
B) poor diet
C) poor personal hygiene
D) too much caffeine

Question 66

The differences seen in organizational control systems of global organizations are primarily in the _ .

A) measurement and corrective action steps of the control process
B) corrective action step of the control process
C) comparison step of the control process
D) measurement and comparison steps of the control process

Question 67

Managers need _ _ to monitor organizational performance and to control organizational activities.

A) information
B) time
C) control analysis systems
D) data

Question 68

Which of following terms would be associated with data and not with information?

A) raw
B) processed
C) analyzed
D) ordered

Question 69

The laws in some countries can constrain organizational control by not allowing organizations to .

A) open facilities
B) bring money into the country
C) hire employees
D) bring in a new management team from outside the country

Question 70

The balanced scorecard is an approach that looks at four areas in the organization, financial, customer, internal processes, and _ that contribute to a company's performance.

A) managerial decision making
B) people/innovation/growth assets
C) shareholder value
D) debt

Question 71

Which of the following is a performance measurement tool that looks at four areas that contribute to a company's performance?

A) economic value added
B) information control
C) balanced scorecard
D) market value added

Question 72

is the search for the best practices among competitors or noncompetitors that lead to their superior performance.

A) Factoring
B) Benchmarking
C) Situating
D) Correlating

Question 73

Up to of all theft and fraud is committed by firm employees, not outsiders.

A) 33 percent
B) 85 percent
C) 75 percent
D) 50 percent

Question 74

provides managers with quantitative standards against which to measure and compare resource allocation.

A) An organization chart
B) TQM
C) A budget
D) Reengineering

Question 75

Clinical psychologists argue that employee theft _.

A) is a symptom of deeper control issues and is not the real problem
B) happens because many people can find ways to rationalize this behavior
C) reflects deep problems in the greater society
D) occurs primarily when there are poor management- labor relations

Question 76

The is the standard of excellence against which to measure and compare.

A) Good Housekeeping Seal
B) market leader
C) service excellence award
D) benchmark

Question 77

Which of the following has not been characterized as a primary contributor to dysfunctional work environments?

A) repetitive, boring work
B) rapid, boring work
C) authoritatian leadership
D) open communication

Question 78

When data are analyzed and processed, they become .

A) information
B) economically viable
C) factual
D) a system

Question 79

A(n) is defined as a system used to provide management with needed information on a regular basis.

A) data entry system
B) expert system
C) management information system
D) artificial intelligence system

Question 80

The approach to performance measurement was introduced as a way to evaluate organizational performance from more than just the financial perspective.

A) balanced scorecard
B) economic valued added
C) market value added
D) information control