The new chief executive officer (CEO) of your company is a strong believer in the four functions of management theory. In preparation for a management meeting, he has asked you to write a report that he can use to explain the theory to his management team. In the report, he would like to see some specific examples of firms that practiced these four functions. For a company with which you are familiar, use each of the four functions to do the following:

• Assess how the overall management team performed in terms of the four functions of management, which are as follows:

o Planning
o Organizing
o Leading
o Controlling

• Identify and explain the strong points of the managers.
• Identify and explain areas in which improvement is needed.

If you do not have any firsthand experiences, ask friends or colleagues for anecdotes or search the Web for specific, real-life examples.
Specifically regarding the controlling function of management, answer the following questions:
• How did most employees feel about the monitoring of activities that managers put in place to monitor employee performance and overall company performance?

• How well was the need for control and monitoring explained to everyone before the controls were put in place?
• Did the controls have a meaningful impact on the overall department or company performance? Cite some specific examples.

Please refer to the following multimedia course material(s):

• Unit 1: The Manager as Leader
• Unit 1: Good Management
• Unit 1: Good Leadership
• Unit 1: Leaders and Motivational Leadership
• Unit 1: Organizational Decision Making
• Unit 1: Leadership
• Unit 1: Leading vs. Managing

You have just been promoted from front-line supervisor to be one of the firm's senior managers. During your business education, you learned that the primary role of a manager is to make good decisions. As a supervisor, you had frequently been making routine decisions, but you realize that decision making for the overall company can and will have far greater impact on the company and its employees.

Your boss, the chief executive officer (CEO), realizes that you do not have much practice in this higher level, decision-making process and has asked you to write a memo describing your understanding of how to make important decisions.

Your memo should address the following questions:
?Describe at least 3 criteria that would determine whether the manager is making good decisions. What should be done to better assure that you are making a good decision?
?In the realm of decision making, what are assumptions? Rather than use a dictionary definition, cite several specific assumptions that would go with any real-life decision you have made or have seen made at a company at which you have worked.
?Given the importance of proper assumptions, your boss asked you to assess the accuracy of certain business assumptions and what could you do to test or confirm the credibility of them. The following were major assumptions for each firm: ?An automobile manufacturer's assumption that the demand for SUVs would continue because gas prices would continue to rise
?An airline's assumption that there was a need for an airline that provided no added amenities


Please refer to the following multimedia course material(s):

• Unit 2: Assumptions
• Unit 2: Making Good Decisions
• Unit 2: Strategic Market Research Data
• Unit 2: Research Strategy & Proposal Outline
• Unit 2: Methods and Tools for Decision Making
• Unit 2: Decision Making Strategies

•Unit 2: Using Statistics in Business Decisions