Chapter Five Key Terms

Front 1

Planning

Back 1

Choosing a goal and developing a strategy to achieve that goal

Front 2

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Back 2

Goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely

Front 3

Goal Commitment

Back 3

The determination to achieve a goal

Front 4

Action Plan

Back 4

A plan that lists the specific steps, people, resources, and time period needed to attain a goal

Front 5

Proximal Goals

Back 5

Short-term goals or subgoals

Front 6

Distal Goals

Back 6

Long-term or primary goals

Front 7

Options-based Planning

Back 7

Maintaining planning flexibility by making small, simultaneous investments in many alternative plans

Front 8

Slack Resources

Back 8

A cushion of extra resources that can be used with options-based planning to adapt to unanticipated changes, problems, or opportunities

Front 9

Strategic Plans

Back 9

Overall company plans that clarify how the company will serve customers and position itself against competitors over the next two to five years

Front 10

Purpose Statement

Back 10

A statement of a company's purpose or reason for existing

Front 11

Strategic Objective

Back 11

A more specific goal that unifies company-wide efforts, stretches and challenges the organization, and possesses a finish line and a time frame

Front 12

Tactical Plans

Back 12

Plans created and implemented by middle managers that specify how the company will use resources, budgets and people over the next six months to two years to accomplish specific goals within its mission

Front 13

Management by Objectives (MBO)

Back 13

A four-step process in which managers and employees discuss and select goals, develop tactical plans, and meet regularly in review progress toward goal accomplishment

Front 14

Operational Plans

Back 14

Day-to-day plans, developed and implemented by lower-level managers, for producing or delivering the organization's products and services over a thirty-day to six-month period

Front 15

Single-use Plans

Back 15

Plans that cover unique, onetime-only events

Front 16

Standing Plans

Back 16

Plans used repeatedly to handle frequently recurring events

Front 17

Policies

Back 17

Standing plans that indicates the general course of action that should be taken in response to a particular event or situation

Front 18

Procedures

Back 18

Standing plans that indicate the specific step that should be taken in response to a particular event

Front 19

Rules and Regulations

Back 19

Standing plans that describe how a particular action should be performed, or what must happen or not happen in response to a particular event

Front 20

Budgeting

Back 20

Quantitative planning through which managers decide how to allocate available money to best accomplish company goals

Front 21

Decision Making

Back 21

The process of choosing a solution from available alternatives

Front 22

Rational Decision Making

Back 22

A systematic process of defining problems, evaluating alternatives, and choosing optimal solutions

Front 23

Problem

Back 23

A gap between a desired state and an existing state

Front 24

Decision Criteria

Back 24

The standards used to guide judgements and decisions

Front 25

Absolute Comparisons

Back 25

A process in which each decision criterion is compared to a standard or ranked on its own merits

Front 26

Relative Comparisons

Back 26

A process in which each decision criterion is compared directly with every other criterion

Front 27

Maximize

Back 27

Choosing the best alternative

Front 28

Satisficing

Back 28

Choosing a "good-enough" alternative

Front 29

Groupthink

Back 29

A barrier to good decision making caused by pressure within the group for members to agree with each other

Front 30

C-type Conflict (cognitive conflict)

Back 30

Disagreement that focuses on problem and issue related differences of opinion

Front 31

A-type Conflict (affective conflict)

Back 31

Disagreement that focuses on individuals or personal issues

Front 32

Devil's Advocacy

Back 32

A decision making method in which an individual or a subgroup is assigned the role of critic

Front 33

Dialectical Inquiry

Back 33

A decision making method in which decision makers state the assumptions of a proposed solution (a thesis) and generate a solution that is the opposite (antithesis) of that solution

Front 34

Nominal Group Technique

Back 34

A decision making method that begins and ends by having group members quietly write down and evaluate ideas to be shared with the group

Front 35

Delphi Technique

Back 35

A decision making method in which members of a panel of experts respond to questions and to each other until reaching agreement on an issue

Front 36

Brainstorming

Back 36

A decision making method in which group members build on each others ideas to generate as many alternative solutions as possible

Front 37

Electronic Brainstorming

Back 37

A decision making method in which group members used computers to build on each others' ideas and generate as many alternative solutions as possible

Front 38

Production Blocking

Back 38

A disadvantage of face-to-face brainstorming in which a group ember must wait to share an idea because another member is presenting an idea

Front 39

Evaluation Apprehension

Back 39

Fear of what others will think of your idea