Questions and Answers of Management Accounting

Explain how the German concept of “Controlling” differs from Anglo-Saxon management accounting.
What are the main influencing factors of cost of capital in a firm? Explain, why a company’s cost of capital is not independent of its supply chain partners.
The financial accounting department of your company has provided you with the following figures, showing key annual accounts data. Determine net working capital and the cash-to-cash cycle time for
How might planning in a not-for-profit organization such as the World Wildlife Fund differ from planning in a for-profit organization such as Airbnb?
Provide examples of the sources of data a residential solar panel company might gather when engaging in environmental scanning. Exhibit 8-6 may be helpful when answering this question.
What potential ethical issues do you see here? What are the strategic issues?
If you were an employee or executive with stock options, would you press Mr. Abernathy to take the medication? Why or why not?
Is Johnson Controls helping customers meet their strategic or operational goals? Explain.
What advantages and disadvantages does Johnson Controls’ OpenBlue platform have over companies looking to develop solutions on their own?
What contingency planning might Johnson Controls need to complete regarding its approach to helping companies reach their net zero goals?
How could additional collaborations help Johnson Controls and Accenture expand?
What factors will make it difficult for Tesla to meet its stated objective of 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week? Explain why you think its stated objective should (or should not) have been different than
What is the downside of setting an ambitious production objective as Tesla has for 2030?
How supportive do you think Tesla’s production staff is of the objective to produce 20 million electric vehicles in 2030? Would it have a positive or negative impact on morale? Explain.
Why is strategic management important for organizations?
Describe the five steps in the strategic management process.
Should executives complete the strategic plan without input from other employees and managers? Why or why not?
Should (a) large, (b) small, and (c) not-for-profit organizations analyze their organization’s internal and external environments differently? Why or why not?
Describe the three major types of corporate strategies and how the BCG matrix is used to manage the different businesses using those corporate strategies.
Describe the differences between corporate and competitive strategies.
Describe quality, innovation, customer focus, and mass customization differentiation strategies.
What do you think? Should you share your We-Sell-It-All inside and show the CEO they made the right decision?
What ethical dilemmas are involved with sharing information about We-Sell-It-All?
What responsibilities, if any, do you have to your former employer?
In what specific ways did Nvidia gain a competitive advantage? Will it be difficult for Nvidia to expand while sustaining its competitive advantage?
Use the BCG matrix to evaluate Nvidia and recommend how to manage it going forward.
How important is it for Nvidia to pay attention to the external and internal analysis steps in the strategic management process? What, if any, new challenges has the company faced?
Do Nvidia’s executives have an obligation to create a strategy ensuring its technology is used in responsible and trustworthy applications? Justify your answer.
How does RapidSOS exemplify the advantages and disadvantages of being a first mover?
What growth strategy did RapidSOS implement (concentration, vertical integration, horizontal integration, or diversification)? Justify your answer.
What new populations can RapidSOS help next?
How can RapidSOS’s actions decrease the threat of new entrants and the threat of substitutes?
Describe a nurse’s working experience in terms of the six elements of organizational design at a hospital adhering to the traditional view. How would work be different for a nurse at a hospital
Would you rather be a first-line supervisor in a mechanistic or an organic organization? Why?
With the availability of analytics, smartphones, email, and other advanced technology that allows an organization’s work to be done anywhere at any time, is a clear chain of command and unity of
How is managing in a matrix structure different from doing so in a project structure?
What organizational design issues might arise in managing employees’ remote work arrangements? Think about what you have learned about organizational design. How might a narrow span of control,
Why are more companies today relying on contingent workers?
How would you describe Punchkick Interactive in terms of the elements of organizational design?
What are the strengths and potential areas of concern at Punchkick?
What makes a flat, “no boss” structure like Punchkick’s work effectively? In what situations (e.g., industries, organizational sizes, employee characteristics) would this structure not work
What advice would you give to Punchkick to ensure it doesn’t experience the problems that Valve has had?
What are the advantages of digital nomad workers for (a) companies, (b) the workers themselves, and (c) the locations they choose to work?
What are the most important problems you see with being a digital nomad?
Do you think digital nomads make the reality of virtual organizations being widely available more or less likely in the future? Describe how the possibility of working for a virtual organization or
Do you think the experiences of contingent workers and regular employees would have a better chance of being more similar to one another in a mechanistic or an organic organizational structure?
Describe how human resource management practices can be a source of competitive advantage for a company.
Why should HR complete a job analysis and update the job description before they screen and interview job candidates? Which selection devices work best for professional jobs?
What are the positives and negatives of monitoring employees electronically?
How might employee electronic monitoring affect employee retention, engagement, and productivity?
If employers want to monitor employees electronically, how should they do it ethically? How should they decide whether a specific monitoring practice is appropriate or is going too far?
Do you agree with how the HR manager addressed the employee complaints? Are there any challenges that this approach fails to address?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of in-person, hybrid, and virtual employees also working side hustles and second jobs?
Is it a good practice to hire an employee with a side business? What evidence would be needed to justify your position?
Should HR take additional steps to ensure the salaries of the director of sales, social media, and marketing and the IT employee are high enough? Justify your response.
What HRM process should owners of car dealerships address to continue to minimize the impact of salespeople turnover?
Several of the compensation issues described in this chapter could be applied to this case. Which are they, and how do they apply?
Which of the dealerships’ attempts at reducing turnover seems most promising? What other jobs might the dealership focus on to ensure turnover there will not become a problem, too?
Would converting the dealership to online sales and selling to customers through a digital kiosk at the dealership be an effective way to resolve staffing issues?
Why is a change agent needed for organizational change? Is a low-level employee better positioned to be a change agent addressing internal or external forces for change? Explain your answer.
What is organizational development, and which of the five types of change does it relate to? How do organizational development techniques support organizational change?
Why do managers need to be prepared for employees who will resist change? Provide examples of ways managers can reduce employees' resistance to change.
Compare and contrast disruptive and breakthrough innovation. What are the steps a manager can take to sustain innovation?
What can be done to resolve the paradox of employees needing stress management assistance but being reluctant to take advantage of assistance programs offered to deal with stress?
Does offering wellness programs, whether employees participate in the programs or not, absolve an organization of the ethical responsibility to address employees' work-related stress? Justify your
Who were the change agents at Google, and what did they do that made them change agents?
What were the internal and/or external forces for change in this case?
What areas of organizational change mattered most to employees in this case?
What techniques for reducing the leaders' resistance to change at Google could employees use to help make further progress toward these changes?
Why is "innovation" a more accurate word to describe Microsoft's latest efforts than "creativity"?
What structural, cultural, and/or human resource variables have helped encourage innovation success at Microsoft since 2014?
Has Microsoft achieved disruptive innovation with its AI products? Why or why not?
Is there an example of "sustaining innovation" in this case? Explain.
Do managers at different levels of the organization use their knowledge of organizational behavior (OB) differently? If so, how? If not, why not? Be specific.
Explain the organization as an iceberg concept as it relates to managers' difficulty in explaining, predicting, and influencing employee behavior.
Define the six important employee behaviors. Which behavior is most important to organizations? Explain.
Describe how employees with low and high job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and engagement think, feel, and behave.
Contrast the Big Five model and the Dark Triad. Describe how these personality traits help explain individual behavior in organizations.
Describe the key elements of attribution theory. Provide examples of the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias occurring in the workplace.
Give an example of how managers could use each type of reinforcement to shape employee behavior in a retail setting.
What ethical issues might arise if Stephanie is not hired? In what ways are the possible ethical issues involved in hiring Sheri different (or the same) as hiring Scott?
What steps should managers like Jared and Amanda take to minimize the chance of making perceptual errors in this situation?
Do you agree with the employees walking off the job and striking during the summer heat wave? Will top-level managers agree as well? Why or why not?
How do uncomfortable or even dangerous working conditions affect how employees behave in the workplace?
What are the benefits of “listening for emotions” when asking employees what needs to be done to improve their work schedules and working conditions?
What impacts on employee recruitment, productivity, absenteeism, turnover, and attitudes (organizational commitment, perceived organizational support) can the organizations expect as a result of the
Once an employee gets a company logo tattoo, how might their job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, absenteeism, and turnover be different from nontattooed employees? What are
Employees might get a company logo tattoo when their attitude toward their company is positive. How does cognitive dissonance apply if their attitude towards the company changes to a negative
How could the shortcuts used in judging others (selective perception, assumed similarity, stereotyping, etc.) apply to an employee with a company logo tattoo?
Sometimes family members of employees who get company logo tattoos do not think it was smart to get that tattoo. How does attribution theory apply to the perceptions family members make about their
Do high levels of effort always lead to better job performance? Explain why or why not using the three elements of motivation.
How do the needs theories of motivation differ from Hertzberg’s and McGregor’s early theories of motivation?
How can managers motivate employees using goal-setting, reinforcement, and equity theories together?
Explain the three critical linkages in expectancy theory and their role in employee motivation.
What issues do managers face in motivating today’s workforce?
Can employee recognition and pay-for-performance programs work too well? Discuss.
What are the pros and cons of the open-book management approach at a government agency versus a privately owned business?
Does transparency mean managers will be prepared to answer questions from employees on what they need to do to earn more? Or if there are age, race, or gender pay disparities?
In what ways does the work environment at REI help satisfy one of the needs in the three-needs theory?
How could expectancy theory explain the motivation employees draw from the outdoor-oriented benefits offered at REI?

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