Strategic Management

Question 1

Explain the concept of management (SM:001) (CS)

Answer 1

Interlocking functions of creating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, directing and implementing an organization’s resources, operations, and structure in order to achieve objectives.
According to management expert Peter Drucker, this includes both marketing and innovations.

Planning
Managers establish organizational goals and create a course of action to achieve them. During the planning phase, management makes strategic decisions to set a direction for the organization. Managers can brainstorm different alternatives to achieve the objective before choosing the best course of action. While planning, managers typically conduct an in-depth analysis of the organization’s current state of affairs, taking into consideration its vision and mission and evaluating what resources are available to meet organizational objectives.
Organizing
The purpose of organizing is to distribute the resources and delegate tasks to personnel to achieve the goals established in the planning stage. Managers may need to work with other departments of the organization, such as finance and human resources, to organize the budget and staffing. During the organizing stage, managers strive to create a work environment conducive to productivity. Managers typically take employees’ motivation and aptitude into account to match employees with roles and tasks that best fit their abilities.
Directing
Leading consists of motivating employees and influencing their behavior to achieve organizational objectives. Leading focuses on managing people, such as individual employees, teams and groups rather than tasks.
Controlling
making adjustments to ensure that the organizational goal is achieved (e.g budget, staff). During the controlling stage, managers perform tasks such as training employees as necessary and managing deadlines. Managers monitor employees and evaluate the quality of their work. They can conduct performance appraisals and give employees feedback, providing positive remarks on what they are doing well and suggestions for improvement. They may also offer pay raise incentives to high-performing employees.

Question 2

Explain factors that affect management (SM:100) (SP)

Answer 2

External,
(e.g. U.S. economy, inflation, changing forecasts, requiring more controlling)
Internal,
(employees’ diverse skillset can affect organizing and planning stages)
globalization and diversity
(need for cross-cultural communication between management and employees, requiring emotional intelligence and empathy (define EI)

Question 3

Explain the nature of risk management (SM:075) (SP)

Answer 3

The process of identifying, assessing, prioritize and controlling threats to an
organization’s capital, assets, and earning power followed by coordination application to avoid the likelihood of unfortunate events or minimize their impact.
Plan to protect yourself/property and reduce financial loss caused by hazards- loss of income or life due to illness, disability, or unemployment. Liability risks-caused negligence that leads to injury or property damage.
Starts with risk avoidance and risk reduction. Risk assumption- taking responsibility for risk when the possible loss is small. Risk transfer- Define!!

Question 4

Conducting a Risk Assessment

Answer 4

Identify Hazards- Physical, mental, chemical and biological.
Decide Whom May be Harmed and How
Assess Risk and Take Action (Safety Precautions) based on Likelihood
Record Findings- Detail hazards noted and Action taken
Review risk Assessment and update if needed
Risk matrix - identify impact of risk, and likelihood of risk (1-5 scale)
*Draw matrix (3x3 not 5x5, explain)