strategic-management

CHAPTER 7 • IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES: MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS ISSUES 245
18. What are the benefits of establishing an ESOP in a company?
19. List reasons why is it important for an organization not to have a “glass ceiling.”
20. Allocating resources can be a political and an ad hoc activity in firms that do not use strategic
management. Why is this true? Does adopting strategic management ensure easy resource
allocation? Why?
21. Compare strategy formulation with strategy implementation in terms of each being an art or a
science.
22. Describe the relationship between annual objectives and policies.
23. Identify a long-term objective and two supporting annual objectives for a familiar
organization.
24. Identify and discuss three policies that apply to your present strategic-management class.
25. Explain the following statement: Horizontal consistency of goals is as important as vertical
consistency.
26. Describe several reasons why conflict may occur during objective-setting activities.
27. In your opinion, what approaches to conflict resolution would be best for resolving a
disagreement between a personnel manager and a sales manager over the firing of a
particular salesperson? Why?
28. Describe the organizational culture of your college or university.
29. Explain why organizational structure is so important in strategy implementation.
30. In your opinion, how many separate divisions could an organization reasonably have without
using an SBU-type organizational structure? Why?
31. Would you recommend a divisional structure by geographic area, product, customer, or
process for a medium-sized bank in your local area? Why?
32. What are the advantages and disadvantages of decentralizing the wage and salary functions
of an organization? How could this be accomplished?
33. Consider a college organization with which you are familiar. How did management issues
affect strategy implementation in that organization?
34. As production manager of a local newspaper, what problems would you anticipate in
implementing a strategy to increase the average number of pages in the paper by 40 percent?
35. Do you believe expenditures for child care or fitness facilities are warranted from a costbenefit
perspective? Why or why not?
36. Explain why successful strategy implementation often hinges on whether the strategyformulation
process empowers managers and employees.
37. Discuss the glass ceiling in the United States, giving your ideas and suggestions.
38. Discuss three ways discussed in this book for linking performance and pay to strategies.
39. List the different types of organizational structure. Diagram what you think is the most
complex of these structures and label your chart clearly.
40. List the advantages and disadvantages of a functional versus a divisional organizational
structure.
41. Discuss recent trends in women and minorities becoming top executives in the
United States.
42. Discuss recent trends in firms downsizing family-friendly programs.
43. Research the latest developments in the class-action lawsuit involving women managers
versus Wal-Mart Stores and report your findings to the class.
44. List seven guidelines to follow in developing an organizational chart.
Notes
1. Dale McConkey, “Planning in a Changing Environment,”
Business Horizons (September–October
1988): 66.
2. A. G. Bedeian and W. F. Glueck, Management, 3rd ed.
(Chicago: The Dryden Press, 1983): 212.
3. Boris Yavitz and William Newman, Strategy in Action: The
Execution, Politics, and Payoff of Business Planning (New
York: The Free Press, 1982): 195.
4. E. H. Schein. “Three Cultures of Management: The Key to
Organizational Learning,” Sloan Management Review 38, 1
(1996): 9–20.
5. S. Ghoshal and C. A. Bartlett, “Changing the Role of
Management: Beyond Structure to Processes.” Harvard
Business Review 73, 1 (1995): 88.
6. Joann Lublin, “Chairman-CEO Split Gains Allies,” Wall
Street Journal (March 30, 2009): B4.
7. Karen Richardson, “The ‘Six Sigma’ Factor for Home
Depot,” Wall Street Journal (January 4, 2007): C3.
8. “Want to Be a Manager? Many People Say No, Calling Job
Miserable,” Wall Street Journal (April 4, 1997): 1;
Stephanie Armour, “Management Loses Its Allure,” USA
Today (October 10, 1997): 1B.