The "managerial levers" concept is useful for the following reasons:

QUIZ

Question 1 (2 points)

Organizational, cultural, and control variables are considered the ________ used by decision makers to effect change in their organization.

1) collaboration tools

2) managerial levers

3) events

4) IS

5) organization objectives

Question 2 (2 points)

The ____________ is a plan articulating where a business seeks to go and how it expects to get there.

1) vision statement

2) mission statement

3) stakeholder statement

4) stockholder statement

5) business strategy

Question 3 (2 points)

Which is not a question that can be used to understand organizational design?

1) Who holds the decision rights to critical decisions?

2) What are the characteristics, experiences, and skill levels of the people within the organization?

3) Where is the organization's headquarters located?

4) What are the key business processes?

5) What is the culture of the organization?

Question 4 (2 points)

The "Managerial Levers" concept is useful for the following reasons:

1) Management can find what "levers" to push to force people to do what they want.

2) Management should not make a change unless they align multiple issues, such as tasks, measures, values, incentives, etc.

3) System investments need to be financially highly leveraged.

4) All of the above

5) None of the above

Question 5 (2 points)

A general manager should:

1) Rely on IS personnel to make IS decisions

2) Ignore how IS are used and managed

3) Have a deep technical knowledge of IS

4) Understand the use and consequences of technologies relevant to the business

5) Not be expected to ask or understand technology related questions

Question 6 (2 points)

When an organization qualifies its product or service in a way that allows it to appear unique in the marketplace, this is called:

1) Focus

2) Differentiation

3) Cost Leadership

4) Business Strategy

5) Mission

Question 7 (2 points)

Organizational, cultural, and control variables are considered the ____________ used by decision makers to effect change in their organization.

1) collaboration tools

2) managerial levers

3) events

4) IS

5) organization objectives

Question 8 (2 points)

Business strategies based on hypercompetition focus on customer satisfaction and profit maximization but also build in a component of business intelligence. Business intelligence helps an agile organization to:

1) Predict and respond to new opportunities

2) Use current information technologies less extensively

3) Manage internal challenges

4) React to supplier demands

5) Collaborate

Question 9 (2 points)

GE recognized that it could only sustain its competitive advantage for a limited time as competitors attempted to outmaneuver them. What was the model that Welch applied to help solve this problem?

1) Destroy your organization

2) Grow your organization

3) Destroy your system

4) Grow your system

5) Destroy your business

Question 10 (2 points)

L.L. Bean is an online/catalog retail company that aggressively uses tools like instant messaging to communicate with customers regarding potential purchases and uses Facebook for branding activities. This use of technology supports which strategy?

1) IS strategy

2) Business strategy

3) Organizational strategy

4) Mission strategy

5) Social business strategy

Question 11 (2 points)

The managerial levers identifies the crucial, interrelated components for designing an organization. The components include all of the following EXCEPT:

1) Decision rights

2) Social media

3) Business processes

4) Incentives and rewards

5) Performance measurement and evaluation

Question 12 (2 points)

By using IS to achieve economies of scale and generate operating efficiencies, Walmart epitomizes which one of Porter's generic strategies?

1) Differentiation

2) Focus

3) Cost leadership

4) Broad focus

5) Cost differentiation

Question 13 (2 points)

Through the use of various technologies, a ski resort tracks the slopes each customer skis and the times he or she skis them. Skiers then have the ability to view this information online, and can choose to seamlessly share their accomplishments on Facebook. In addition, photographers positioned at the resort post pictures on Facebook for the skier. This ski resort has worked hard to develop a strong:

1) IS Strategy

2) Social business strategy

3) Business strategy

4) Organizational strategy

5) Customer strategy

Question 14 (2 points)

Technology guru Tim O'Reilly said this about the publishing industry: "To adapt, publishers need to cannibalize their own business, experimenting with new forms, new formats, and new business models." This statement is consistent with:

1) Generic framework

2) Focus strategy

3) Hypercompetition

4) Direct strategy

5) Porter’s generic strategies

Question 15 (2 points)

While information systems can be used to gain a strategic advantage, they have inherent risks. Hershey Foods, for example, crippled its Halloween sales when its complex IS system failed to support its supply and inventory needs during peak production season. This is an example of which specific IS risk?

1) Awaking a sleeping giant

2) Implementing IS poorly

3) Demonstrating bad timing

4) Running afoul of the law

5) Mobile-based alternative removes advantages

Question 16 (2 points)

Suppose Zara has a linked supply chain with Silk City, a fabric supplier. Zara and Silk City use IT to seamlessly exchange data, communicating requirements as well as delivery expectations. The relationship between Zara and Silk City is best described as:

1) Strategic alliance

2) Co-opetition

3) Collaboration

4) Dependence

5) Competition

Question 17 (2 points)

Kodak was once the largest supplier of photographic film. In 2004 it was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after having been listed for 74 years. Kodak failed to use IT to fend off which one of the following of Porter's 5 competitive forces?

1) Bargaining power of suppliers

2) Threat of substitute products

3) Potential threat of new entrants

4) Bargaining power of buyers

5) Industry collaboration

Question 18 (2 points)

Many companies like Zara use POS to capture information on what has sold, to whom and when. This use of technology to realize efficiencies supports which one of Porter's value chain activities?

1) Outbound Logistics

2) Marketing & Sales

3) Operations

4) Service

5) Human resources

Question 19 (2 points)

Two automobile manufacturers are working together to develop hybrid technology. This type of relationship between the two automobile manufacturers is best described as:

1) Co-opetition

2) Strategic alliance

3) Competition

4) Collaboration

5) Business strategy

Question 20 (2 points)

The Nike + iPod Sports Kit is a sensor in your shoe that syncs with your iPod and provides details about your workout. This inter-organizational relationship affords both Nike and Apple a business advantage. This relationship between Nike and Apple is best described as:

1) Strategic alliance

2) Co-opetition

3) Collaboration

4) Dependence

5) Competition

Question 21 (2 points)

A firm releases a new technology only to have a competitor implement a similar technology with more features and value to the consumer. This would be which type of risk?

1) Demonstrating bad timing

2) Awakening a sleeping giant

3) Mobile-based alternative removes advantages

4) Running afoul of the law

5) Implementing IS poorly

Question 22 (2 points)

Which of the following is NOT a primary activity of the Value Chain model?

1) Inbound Logistics

2) Operations

3) Outbound Logistics

4) Purchasing

5) Marketing and Sales

Question 23 (2 points)

This risks of using information resources include all of the following except:

1) Demonstrating bad timing

2) Awakening a sleeping giant

3) Implementing IS poorly

4) Missing cooperative opportunities

5) Failing to deliver what users want

Question 24 (2 points)

Which one of the following is not considered to be a primary activity of the value chain of a firm?

1) Inbound Logistics

2) Service

3) Sales & Marketing

4) Technology

5) Operations

Question 25 (2 points)

Which one of the following risks can threaten the IS of a company in a highly regulated industry such as financial services or health care?

1) Demonstrating bad timing

2) Awakening a sleeping giant

3) Mobile-based alternative removes advantages

4) Running afoul of the law

5) Implementing IS poorly

Question 26 (2 points)

Zara strategically uses information technologies to do all of the following EXCEPT:

1) Bring new products quickly to market, meeting customer demands

2) Support a continuous flow of information from stores to manufacturers to distributors

3) Maintain a rich, centralized repository of customer data

4) Build silos of responsibilities with limited interaction between store managers, designers and market specialists

5) Keep its inventory levels very low (relative to other retailers)

Question 27 (2 points)

Which model is best used to understand the ways in which information technologies allow a firm to both attain and sustain a competitive advantage?

1) Porter’s Competitive Forces

2) Porter’s Value Chain

3) The Information Systems Strategy Triangle

4) The Network Effect

5) The Resource-Based View

Question 28 (2 points)

The supply chain:

1) Points out the concept of weak link in an ordering process

2) Helps us understand how value is built inside a single firm.

3) Is composed of several value chains linked into a larger chain (a chain within a chain).

4) All of the above

5) None of the above

Question 29 (2 points)

The organizational structure of Tata Consulting Services (TCS) is a ___________ organizational structure.

1) hierarchical

2) networked

3) matrix

4) flat

5) zero time

Question 30 (2 points)

This newer organizational design is designed to be highly flexible so that resources can be configured quickly to respond to changing demands.

1) Up time organization

2) Social networked organization

3) Hierarchical organization

4) Matrix organization

5) Elastic enterprise

Question 31 (2 points)

IS plays three important roles in management control processes. These processes are data collection, evaluation, and _______________.

1) transformation

2) management

3) communication

4) implementation

5) conversion

Question 32 (2 points)

In which type of organizational design do middle managers do the primary information processing and communication function, telling subordinates what to do and then reporting the outcome to senior management?

1) Flat

2) Networked

3) Hierarchical

4) Matrix

5) Hybrid

Question 33 (2 points)

Cognizant’s organizational structure was ________, but realized as its organization grew and its services became more complicated that a __________ structure for the organization was more appropriate.

1) hierarchical, networked

2) matrix, networked

3) flat, matrix

4) hierarchical, matrix

5) flat, hierarchical

Question 34 (2 points)

Traditional organizations have one of four types of organizational design. What are these four structure types?

1) Traditional, flat, matrix, technology

2) Hierarchical, flat, matrix, networked

3) Matrix, networked, flat, information

4) Matrix, flat, networked, traditional

5) Social, networked, matrix, hierarchical

Question 35 (2 points)

Which of the following is not an organizational design variable?

1) IT Infrastructure

2) Decision rights

3) Informal networks

4) Structure

5) Formal reporting relationships

Question 36 (2 points)

Effective, cross-cultural communication in today’s global and “flattened” world is:

1) Easy to achieve

2) Difficult to achieve

3) Of little consequence to the organizational strategy

4) Achieved by using the best available technologies

5) No longer an issue for managers

Question 37 (2 points)

All of the following help to develop informal networks that play an important role in an organization EXCEPT for:

1) Job rotation

2) Company softball team

3) Virtual communities

4) Performance reviews

5) Attendance at a conference

Question 38 (2 points)

Organizational design is all about making sure that _________ are properly allocated, reflecting the structure of formal reporting relationships.

1) decision rights

2) business processes

3) values

4) incentives

5) IS

Question 39 (2 points)

A matrix organization:

1) Can involve multiple bosses and multiple teams

2) Requires quite a bit of communication to be successful

3) Were rare for quite a while but have become more common in recent years

4) All of the above

5) None of the above

Question 40 (2 points)

At Zara, decision rights for ordering have been granted to whom?

1) Regional managers

2) Headquarters

3) Store managers

4) Central production

5) The commercial team

Question 41 (ESSAY)

Consider the brief description of the elastic enterprise. What is an example of a control system that would be critical to manage for success in the elastic enterprise? Why?

An elastic organization is an agile and responsive organization that can configure resources and people quickly. Such organizations are flexible so that they can quickly respond to changing customer demand. Elastic enterprises are able to add partners quickly so that they can quickly respond to customer needs. They create a platform and common interface that reduce effort and friction of partnering (Pearlson et. al., 2019). In today’s dynamic environment, elastic enterprises display remarkable competitive agility and growth capacity.

A control system that enable people, process, and technology to respond quickly is very critical to manage for success in the elastic enterprise. One such control is customer feedback system. A customer feedback system collects customer feedback, and helps the elastic enterprise to understand what customers want. This enables the organization to quickly respond to customer demand. An organization can also analyze customer feedback to sense changing customer taste and preferences. This information can be used to develop products that satisfy customer’s changing needs. An organization can also use customer feedback to analyze and improve its supply chain. With improved supply chain, an organization can create more value for its customers.

References

Pearlson, K. E., Saunders, C. S. &Galletta, D. F. (2019). Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach. (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.