Question 1

Some managers use ________, which provides four indicators with which organizations can set goals and measure performance.

Accepted Answer

The balanced scorecard establishes (a) goals and (b) performance measures according to four "perspectives" or areas: financial, customer, internal business, and innovation and learning.

Question 2

Monitoring performance to ensure that day-to-day goals are being implemented and taking corrective action as needed is known as ________ control.

Accepted Answer

Operational control is monitoring performance to ensure that operational plans, or day-to-day goals, are being implemented and taking corrective action as needed.

Question 3

Tre'quon's supervisor noticed that he was struggling with the computerized setup for production runs at his new job. The supervisor observed him while he tried it again and gave suggestions for improvement. The supervisor is doing which step of the control process?

Accepted Answer

In the corrective action step, when performance falls short of the standard, managers should examine the reasons why and take appropriate action. Sometimes employees may need more attention from management if they have been performing inadequately.

Question 4

________ perspective helps top management focus on what the organization must excel at to effectively meet its financial objectives and customers' expectations.

Accepted Answer

The internal business perspective helps top managers focus on what the organization must excel at to effectively meet its financial objectives and customers' expectations. Managers must measure and manage: innovation, customer service and satisfaction, operational excellence (which includes safety and quality), and good corporate citizenship.

Question 5

________ control is an approach to organizational control that is characterized by informal and organic structural arrangements.

Accepted Answer

Decentralized control is an approach to organizational control that is characterized by informal and organic structural arrangements.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a perspective of the balanced scorecard?

Accepted Answer

The balanced scorecard establishes (a) goals and (b) performance measures according to four "perspectives" or areas: financial, customer, internal business, and innovation and learning.

Question 7

Kimberli manages employees at Mountaintop Ski Resorts. She has noticed that one of her employees submits via the computer system the same suggestions for continuous improvement multiple times, knowing that performance is evaluated on the number of suggestions only. This problem is typical of ________ control.

Accepted Answer

Bureaucratic control may not be effective if people are looking for ways to stay out of trouble by simply following the rules, or if they try to beat the system by manipulating performance reports, or if they try to actively resist bureaucratic constraints.

Question 8

Charmaine was required to take an Excel spreadsheet test as part of her application for an executive assistant position. This control is part of the ________ area.

Accepted Answer

The human resources area controls used to monitor employees include personality tests and drug testing for hiring, performance tests during training, performance evaluations to measure work productivity, and employee surveys to assess job satisfaction, engagement, and leadership.

Question 9

All of the following are reasons why performance falls significantly short of the standard EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

When performance falls significantly short of the standard, managers should carefully examine the reasons and take the appropriate action. Sometimes the standards themselves were unrealistic, owing to changing conditions, in which case the standards need to be altered. Sometimes employees haven't been given the resources for achieving the standards. And sometimes the employees may need more attention from management as a way of signaling that their efforts have been insufficient in fulfilling their part of the job bargain.

Question 10

Tactical control is performed mainly by

Accepted Answer

Tactical control is done mainly by middle managers, those with such titles as "division head," "plant manager," and "branch sales manager."

Question 11

Typically, operational control is accomplished through reports issued

Accepted Answer

Operational control is monitoring performance to ensure that operational plans, or day-to-day goals, are being implemented and taking corrective action as needed. Reporting is done on a daily basis.

Question 12

One characteristic of incremental budgeting is that it

Accepted Answer

One difficulty of incremental budgeting is that incremental budgets tend to lock departments into stable spending arrangements; they are not flexible in meeting environmental demands.

Question 13

A sales forecast is an example of an organizational control from the ________ area.

Accepted Answer

Production schedules, sales forecasts, environmental impact statements, analyses of competition, and public relations briefings are all controls on an organization's various information resources.

Question 14

Which of the following areas of control for organizations exerts informal control?

Accepted Answer

The cultural area is an informal method of control. It influences the work process and levels of performance through the set of norms and behaviors that develop as a result of the values and beliefs that constitute an organization's culture.

Question 15

Which of the following may be done as a corrective action in the control process?

Accepted Answer

There are three possibilities for corrective action when modifying the control process: make no changes, recognize and reinforce positive performance, and take action to correct negative performance.

Question 16

Standards are best measured when they are

Accepted Answer

A control standard, or performance standard, or simply standard, is the desired performance level for a given goal. Standards may be narrow or broad, and they can be set for almost anything, although they are best measured when they can be made quantifiable.

Question 17

________ is the amount of acceptable deviation from a standard, determined when the standard was established.

Accepted Answer

How much deviation is acceptable depends on the range of variation built into the standards.

Question 18

Examining how the organization looks to shareholders is part of which of the balanced scorecard perspectives?

Accepted Answer

The financial perspective asks the question, "How do we look to shareholders?" Typical financial goals have to do with revenue growth and productivity growth.

Question 19

According to Kaplan and Norton, ________ maps are "visual representations of a company's critical objectives and the crucial relationships among them that drive organizational performance."

Accepted Answer

According to Kaplan and Norton, strategy maps are "visual representations of a company's critical objectives and the crucial relationships among them that drive organizational performance." These maps show relationships among a company's strategic goals, helping employees understand how their work contributes to their employer's overall success.

Question 20

A(n) ________ budget allocates increased or decreased funds to a department by using the last budget period as a reference point.

Accepted Answer

Incremental budgeting allocates increased or decreased funds to a department by using the last budget period as a reference point; only incremental changes are reviewed.

Quiz 16: Control Systems and Quality Management: Techniques for Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness