Questions and Answers of Contemporary Management

What is the difference between deterministic and probabilistic estimates?
What is an Agile “spike,” and when would it be used?
A rockslide closes down a major highway on your delivery route and leads to unforeseen costs. Does the extra money needed come from contingency reserves, management reserves, or elsewhere? Why?
Using the same project described in questions 2 and 3, which method(s) of estimating cost would you use to establish a baseline budget? Why?Question 3Using the same project described in question 2,
Give an example of how a project manager could run into problems with cash flow, even when they are within budget on the overall project.
Describe a few normal causes and special causes of variation on a project you have worked on. How did you address these variations?
What is the purpose of dummy tasks, and on what types of projects would you use them for budgeting purposes?
The order of magnitude budget estimate you created during chartering is deemed by your sponsor to cost far more than your organization is willing to spend on your project. What are your options as a
Give an example of a leading indicator and a lagging indicator from a project or type of project you are familiar with.
Why is it important for the metrics we use to have thresholds associated with them?
In what circumstances might a project manager use “dummy” tasks?
The “process that establishes the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, expending, and controlling project costs” is referred to as:a. determine budgetb. estimate
Activity cost estimates, the basis of estimates, and other supporting detail are outputs of which process?a. determine budgetb. estimate costsc. plan cost managementd. control costs
As the project progresses from initiation through planning and executing, and additional detail is gathered, the range of values for the project cost estimate will:a. broadenb. stay the samec.
Determine budget is “the process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized time-phased project budget or cost baseline.” This is used
A(n) _____________ is used to compare actual project spending with planned expenditures over time to determine if corrective action is needed.a. cost baselineb. funding limit reconciliationc. reserve
Jason, a project manager, is working with his team to estimate the total cost of developing a web-based CRM system. After reviewing the planned scope of work with Jason, his sponsor suggests that
One of the principal benefits of creating a bottom-up estimate during planning is that the estimate:a. can be created quicklyb. is very accuratec. matches the high-level estimate in the project
The amount of project budget reserved for unforeseen project work that addresses the“unknown unknowns” that can affect a project is the _____________.a. project bufferb. funding limitc.
Ellen is estimating how much it will cost to recarpet the executive conference room. After selecting the grade and pattern of carpet, Ellen multiplies the carpet price per square yard times the
The budget within the cost baseline that is allocated for identified risks, for which mitigating responses are developed, is called the _____________.a. contingency reserveb. management reservec.
A baker has a contract to bake three dozen chocolate chip cookies for a customer’s party. Create a bottom-up estimate that includes both items needed for the project and the cost. According to your
The budget for this project was not formalized. It includes partial funding from several departments and some in-kind donations of trees and work. The various departments that have an interest in the
Theink is barely dry on its $68 billion merger with Wyeth, but that hasn’t stopped Pfizer from launching yet another deal. On April 16, Pfizer announced it will join forces with Britain’s
Almost 30 months after Alan R. Mulally left Boeing to become chief executive of Ford Motor, it’s still easy to peg him as an industry outsider. Talking to Wall Street analysts in November, Mulally
Fabindia, a purveyor of handwoven garments and home furnishings, is one of India’s premier retail brands. It has reached that level in part by bringing its suppliers inside the tent. The private
Sitting on John J. Ferriola’s desk at Nucor’s headquarters in Charlotte is a greeting card. Yellow, with bright green, pink, and blue flowers, it’s from Diane Williamson, a line worker at
You are Maria Herrera and have been recently promoted to the position of director of financial analysis for a medium-size consumer goods firm. During your first few weeks on the job, you took the
Business had been good, even great. But by early 2008, the lighting manufacturer realized his factory in China was heading for failure. The collapse of the U.S. housing market had devastated demand
Just prick the surface of Generation Xers’ feelings about life Inside large corporations, and you’ll likely discover a flood of concerns, as we found in reader responses to the BusinessWeek
Outsourcing isn’t a word that executives in Japan like to toss around. Japan Inc. prefers to tie its fortunes to state-of-the-art factories that churn out chips, cars, and flat-screen TVs for the
Sometimes groups make extreme decisions—decisions that are either more risky or more conservative than they would have been if individuals acting alone had made them. One explanation for the
You are a top manager who was recently hired by an oil field services company in Oklahoma to help it respond more quickly and proactively to potential opportunities in its market. You report to the
K. Alan Russell has spent 23 years clearing bureaucratic and logistical hurdles for U.S. companies running low-cost plants in Ciudad Juárez. Never has he had to do as much hand-holding as now. Each
It sounds more like reality TV than a reasoned strategy. Last year, Best Buy picked four groups of salespeople in their 20s and early 30s and asked the strangers to room together for 10 weeks in a
India’s Tata vaulted into the global spotlight a few years ago when it began making a series of high- profile acquisitions, from the four-star Pierre hotel in New York to Anglo-Dutch steelmaker
In the personal computer business everybody knows Michael Dell, who changed the industry when he started selling computers out of his college dorm. Mark Hurd has won accolades for reviving
Having answered the previous four questions, do you think in retrospect that you made a reasonable decision? What, if anything, might you do to improve your ability to make good decisions in the
Since becoming chief executive of Procter & Gamble in 2000, A.G. Lafley has never had it tougher. Shares of the world’s biggest consumer-products company have lost a third of their value since last
Just six weeks after taking over as chief executive of Yahoo! from cofounder Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz has now made it quite clear who’s in charge and what demands she’ll place on her executive
Amazon.com has earned a reputation for strong service by letting customers get what they want without ever talking to an employee. Sales clerks are nonexistent. Orders ship with a few mouse clicks.
David Cain loves his job. Well, most of it anyway. As an executive director for global engineering at Pfizer, Cain finds real satisfaction in assessing environmental real estate risks, managing
You are a team of human resource consultants who have been hired by Carla Caruso, an entrepreneur who has started her own interior decorating business. A highly competent and creative interior
A cabal of HR renegades is taking advantage of the economic downturn to push an unorthodox notion: that the current vogue of slashing perks and pay is managerial insanity. Office land may be burning,
Bosses are witnessing a lot of bizarre behavior in Officeland these days. The lumpy and rumpled are showing up all spiffy and drycleaned. Mouthy iconoclasts are newly docile. Clock-watching slackers
You may not have heard of Phil Kent. After all, the CEO of Turner Broadcasting is a whole lot quieter than Ted Turner, the so-called Mouth of the South who remained front and center long after
You are a group of managers in charge of food services for a large state university in the Midwest. Recently a survey of students, faculty, and staff was conducted to evaluate customer satisfaction
When 10 IBM management trainees piled into a mini bus in the Philippines for a weekend tour last October, the last thing they expected was to wind up local heroes. Yet that’s what happened in the
Managing virtually offers many benefi ts: It’s easy to accommodate differing schedules, schedule meetings on short notice, reduce travel expenses, be more ecologically friendly, and decrease
Few employers spend as much time cultivating their workforce as Procter & Gamble. The consumerproducts company expects to get 400,000 applications for entry-level management positions this year. It
Some managers do not want to become overly friendly with their subordinates because they are afraid that if they do so, their objectivity when conducting performance appraisals and making decisions
You are Walter Michaels and have just received some disturbing feedback. You are the director of human resources for Maxi Vision Inc., a medium-size window and glass-door manufacturer. You recently
In the world of Facebook or Twitter, people love to hear feedback about what they’re up to. But sit them down for a performance review, and suddenly the experience becomes traumatic. Now companies
You and your three partners are engineers who minored in business at college and have decided to start a consulting business. Your goal is to provide manufacturing-process engineering and other
You are a team of managing partners of a large firm of accountants. You are responsible for auditing your firm’s information systems to determine whether they are appropriate and up-to-date. To
Mark Chen supervises support staff for an Internet merchandising organization that sells furniture over the Internet. Chen has always thought that he should expand his staff. When he was about to
When Riswan Khalfan, chief information officer at TD Securities, set out to improve the performance of the bank’s options-trading system last year, he couldn’t find ready-to-use technology
You are an operations management consultant who has been called in by the management team of a start-up company that will produce flat-screen displays for personal computer manufacturers like Dell
In a warehouse at the headquarters of Kiva Systems in Woburn, Massachusetts, an ottoman-shaped robot slides beneath a four-shelf storage unit holding an assortment of consumer goods, lifts it, and
Pulling off a CEO transition is never easy. DuPont’s smooth baton passing early this year underscores the importance of having a solid plan. This is not an easy time to nurture a new generation of
Go to www.net-temps.com, a website geared toward temporary employment. Imagine that you have to take a year off from college and are seeking a one-year position. Guided by your own interests, use
Companies that offer lavish benefits believe there is a return on their investment. The challenge: figuring out how to calculate it.Employees don’t pay a dime for health insurance. A registered
Go to www.net-temps.com , a website geared toward temporary employment. Imagine that you have to take a year off from college and are seeking a one-year position. Guided by your own interests, use
In fulfilling online orders, Amazon.com Inc. is all about expediency. The fewer people involved the better.But when it comes to filling higherlevel jobs, the e-commerce giant is in no rush—and it
If you had the chance to choose which well-known corporation you would work for, which would it be? Now go to the website of that company and find out as much as you can about how it motivates
You supervise a team of marketing analysts who work on different snack products in a large food products company. The marketing analysts have recently received undergraduate degrees in business or
Go to the website of the Center for Creative Leadership ( www.ccl.org ). Spend some time browsing through the site to learn more about this organization, which specializes in leadership. Then click
You are the CEO of a medium-size company that makes window coverings similar to Hunter Douglas blinds and duettes. Your company has a real cost advantage in terms of being able to make custom window
Kissing was a point of contention. “We had some kissing in the movie,” says Dan Lin, the producer of The Lego Movie. “It wasn’t lusty. When two minifigs kiss, there’s no tongue or anything.
Many consultants and organizations provide teambuilding services to organizations. Although some managers and teams have found these services to be helpful, others have found them to be a waste of
A visit to the doctor may mean seeing someone else instead.An increasing number of practices are scrapping the traditional one on-one doctor–patient relationship. Instead, patients are receiving
You were recently hired in a boundary-spanning role for the global unit of an educational and professional publishing company. The company is headquartered in New York (where you work) and has
Atos SE is a global information technology company that provides IT services to major corporations to improve, facilitate, integrate, and manage operations, information, and communication across
You supervise support staff for an Internet merchandising organization that sells furniture over the Internet. You always thought that you needed to expand your staff, and just when you were about to
Discuss the pros and cons of using the Internet and World Wide Web for communication within and between organizations.
The conference call is one of the most familiar rituals of office life—and one of the most hated.Abuses are rife. People on the line interrupt others, zone out or multitask, forgetting to hit
You and your partners have decided to open a large full-service restaurant in your local community; it will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each of you is
You have just been called in to help managers at Achieva, a fast-growing Internet software company that specializes in business-to-business (B2B) network software. Your job is to help Achieva solve
There’s a trend in tech these days of trying to own as little as possible. Companies like Uber and Airbnb have become billion-dollar behemoths by employing what’s called the “platformonly”
You and your partners have decided to open a large full-service restaurant in your local community; it will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each of you is
You have just been called in to help managers at Achieva, a fast-growing Internet software company that specializes in business-to-business (B2B) network software. Your job is to help Achieva solve
You and your partners have decided to open a large full-service restaurant in your local community; it will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each of you is
Think of an organization that has provided you with work experience and the manager to whom you reported (or talk to someone who has had extensive work experience); then answer these questions:Think
Think of an organization that has provided you with work experience and the manager to whom you reported (or talk to someone who has had extensive work experience); then answer these questions:If you
By all appearances the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. based in Chico, California, was considered to be an efficient and sanitary meatpacking plant. Under the control of its owner and CEO, Steven Mendell,
Think of an organization with which you are all familiar, such as a local restaurant, store, or bank. After choosing an organization, model it from an open-systems perspective. Identify its input,
A top Deutsche Bank saleswoman was placed on leave last month after the German bank found what it regarded as inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank, according to a
By all appearances the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. based in Chico, California, was considered to be an efficient and sanitary meatpacking plant. Under the control of its owner and CEO, Steven Mendell,
Think of an organization with which you are all familiar, such as a local restaurant, store, or bank. After choosing an organization, model it from an open-systems perspective. Identify its input,
You have been called in to advise the owners of an exclusive new luxury hotel. For the venture to succeed, hotel employees must focus on providing customers with the highest-quality customer service
By all appearances the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. based in Chico, California, was considered to be an efficient and sanitary meatpacking plant. Under the control of its owner and CEO, Steven Mendell,
Think of an organization with which you are all familiar, such as a local restaurant, store, or bank. After choosing an organization, model it from an open-systems perspective. Identify its input,
You are on the top management team of a medium size company that manufactures cardboard boxes, containers, and other cardboard packaging materials. Your company is facing increasing levels of
Go to IDEO’s website (www.ideo.com) and read about this company. Try to find indicators of IDEO’s culture that are provided on the website. How does the design of the website itself, and the
More than a decade ago, James Higa was one of Steve Jobs’s trusted advisers at Apple, helping lead thorny negotiations with music record labels and ultimately paving the way for the iTunes
You are on the top management team of a medium size company that manufactures cardboard boxes, containers, and other cardboard packaging materials. Your company is facing increasing levels of
You are on the top management team of a medium size company that manufactures cardboard boxes, containers, and other cardboard packaging materials. Your company is facing increasing levels of
In the early 1980s Beech-Nut, a maker of baby foods, was in grave financial trouble as it strove to compete with Gerber Products, the market leader. Threatened with bankruptcy if it could not lower
In the United States the right to chew gum is taken for granted. Although it is often against the rules to chew gum in a high school classroom, church, and so on, it is legal to do so on the street.
Check out Fortune’s list of the 50 World’s Most Admired Companies (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-admired/). Fortune puts this list together each year based on ratings from

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