CLEP Principles of Management key terms

A management structure built on clear hierarchy, written rules, defined job duties, and impersonal treatment of employees. Max Weber described it as the most rational way to organize large administrative work.

The number of subordinates who report directly to one manager. A wide span creates a flatter structure with less supervision; a narrow span creates taller hierarchies with closer oversight.

The unbroken line of authority running from the top of an organization down to each employee. It clarifies who reports to whom and supports the unity-of-command principle.

Breaking work into specialized tasks assigned to different people so each becomes proficient. It raises efficiency but can reduce motivation when tasks become repetitive and narrow.

Grouping jobs into units such as functions, products, customers, or geography so similar work is coordinated. The grouping choice shapes communication patterns and accountability across the organization.

A design in which employees report to both a functional manager and a project or product manager. It improves coordination across specialties but creates dual authority and role conflict.

Frederick Taylor's approach of studying tasks to find the one best method, then selecting, training, and incentivizing workers accordingly. It raised output but was criticized for ignoring human needs.

Experiments at Western Electric showing that worker productivity responded to attention and social factors, not only physical conditions. They helped launch the human relations movement in management.

Douglas McGregor's two assumptions about workers. Theory X sees people as disliking work and needing control; Theory Y sees work as natural and people as seeking responsibility.

The view that no single management practice fits every situation; the best approach depends on factors such as environment, technology, and employee characteristics. It rejects universal prescriptions.

Treating an organization as a set of interdependent parts that takes inputs from the environment, transforms them, and returns outputs. Success depends on how well the parts and environment fit together.

Mechanistic structures are rigid, rule-based, and centralized; organic structures are flexible, decentralized, and built on lateral communication. Stable environments favor mechanistic designs, turbulent ones favor organic.

A planning tool that lists internal strengths and weaknesses alongside external opportunities and threats. It helps managers match organizational capabilities to environmental conditions before setting strategy.

A process in which managers and employees jointly set specific, measurable goals and later review performance against them. It links individual objectives to broader organizational aims.

A guideline requiring goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The criteria make objectives easier to communicate, track, and evaluate.

Long-range planning that defines an organization's mission, sets broad goals, and chooses how to compete given its resources and environment. It guides lower-level tactical and operational plans.

An idealized sequence of defining a problem, generating alternatives, evaluating them, choosing, implementing, and evaluating results. It assumes complete information, which real managers rarely have.

Herbert Simon's idea that decision makers are limited by incomplete information, time, and cognitive capacity. They therefore settle for acceptable rather than optimal solutions.

Choosing the first alternative that meets a minimum acceptable standard instead of searching for the best possible option. It is a common response to bounded rationality and time pressure.

A deterioration of group judgment caused by pressure for consensus, which suppresses dissent and discourages realistic appraisal of alternatives. It often produces poor strategic decisions.

A structured group decision method in which members independently write ideas, then share and rank them. It reduces domination by vocal members and limits premature consensus.

A group idea-generation session that encourages freewheeling suggestions and forbids criticism during the idea phase. Evaluation is postponed so quantity and creativity come first.

Assigning a task and the necessary authority to a subordinate while retaining accountability for results. Effective delegation frees managers for higher-level work and develops employees.

Authority is the right to give orders and allocate resources; responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned duties. Principles of management hold that the two should be balanced.

Centralization keeps decision authority near the top; decentralization pushes it to lower levels and locations. The choice trades consistency and control against speed and local responsiveness.

Line managers directly command the units that produce the organization's output; staff managers advise and support them without direct command over line operations. The distinction clarifies who decides.

Forecasting future staffing needs and comparing them with the current workforce to plan recruiting, training, and reductions. It aligns headcount and skills with organizational strategy.

The systematic process of gathering information about a job's duties, conditions, and required qualifications. Its outputs, job descriptions and specifications, support recruiting, pay, and evaluation.

A formal evaluation of an employee's work against standards, often used for feedback, pay, promotion, and development decisions. Methods include rating scales, critical incidents, and behaviorally anchored scales.

Abraham Maslow's model placing physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs in ascending order. Lower needs are said to motivate first, though research support is limited.

Frederick Herzberg's claim that hygiene factors such as pay and working conditions prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as achievement and growth create satisfaction. The two operate on separate scales.

Redesigning a job to add responsibility, variety, and feedback so workers gain intrinsic satisfaction. It differs from job enlargement, which merely adds more tasks of the same type.

Victor Vroom's model holding that motivation depends on expecting effort to yield performance, performance to yield outcomes, and those outcomes to be valued. A zero in any link kills motivation.

J. Stacy Adams's idea that employees compare their input-to-outcome ratio with others' and adjust effort when they perceive unfairness. Perceived inequity motivates reducing effort or seeking more reward.

B.F. Skinner's behaviorist view that consequences shape behavior: positive and negative reinforcement increase it, while punishment and extinction decrease it. It underlies many incentive and discipline systems.

Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard's model in which leaders adjust task and relationship behavior to followers' readiness or maturity for a given task. Style should shift as competence grows.

Leadership that inspires followers through idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. It aims to raise commitment beyond simple exchange.

Leadership based on exchanges of rewards and punishments for performance against agreed expectations. It maintains routine operations but rarely generates deep commitment or change.

The cycle of setting standards, measuring actual performance, comparing the two, and taking corrective action. Controls can be feedforward, concurrent, or feedback depending on timing.

A control principle in which managers intervene only when performance deviates significantly from standards. It conserves managerial attention for genuine problems.

Comparing an organization's processes and performance against best practices elsewhere to find improvement opportunities. It can target internal units, competitors, or unrelated industry leaders.

A performance measurement framework tracking financial, customer, internal-process, and learning-and-growth perspectives. It balances lagging financial results with leading indicators of future capability.

An organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement, customer focus, and employee involvement in quality. It emphasizes prevention of defects rather than inspection after the fact.

The growing interconnection of markets, production, and information across national borders. It expands opportunities for scale and sourcing while increasing competitive and cultural complexity.

A firm that owns or controls operations in more than one country. It may organize as a global, multidomestic, or transnational company depending on how it balances standardization and local adaptation.

Geert Hofstede's framework for comparing national cultures on dimensions such as power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. It guides cross-cultural management choices.

A firm's obligation to act in ways that benefit society beyond legal requirements and profit maximization. It covers stakeholders such as employees, communities, customers, and the environment.

The view that managers should balance the interests of all parties affected by the firm, not only shareholders. Stakeholders include employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and investors.

Managing operations so that economic, social, and environmental needs are met without compromising future generations. It increasingly shapes supply chains, reporting, and strategic decisions.