E2 Questions and Answers

The new Chief Executive of P Company has recently announced that there will be significant changes made to how the company operates. He has stated that his vision for the company cannot be achieved within the existing organisational paradigm.

Although the changes are significant, due to increased competitive pressures, the Chief Executive has commented that changes will need to be made quickly.

Which of the following types of change will occur in P Company?

The Managing Director of a large golf complex is using Drucker's five questions to help develop a new strategy.

Which of the following statements does not answer one of Drucker's questions?

Which of the following statements does NOT help characterise Quinn's notion of logical incrementalism?

An insurance group is contemplating a proposal to outsource its customer call centre. The centre is currently managed as an internal function. Before taking a strategic decision, the group directors are assessing not only the long term operating costs but all the transaction costs associated with a change to an external provider.

In the context of this proposal, what are the transaction costs that would need to be considered by the directors?

Select ALL that apply.

Four orthopaedic surgeons in a busy hospital department have very different work habits. Each has their own team of medical technicians who are used to the surgeons' personal preferences and are very comfortable with their routines; they basically do the same things every day. This way of working has gone on for several years.

When a new administration manager suggested that they train all of the technicians to work with all the surgeons this led to significant resistance from all of the parties involved. The technicians were concerned that they would no longer be able to perform their usual daily tasks.

On the basis of the scenario what would be the main cause of their resistance?

Which of the models below identifies triggers for change from the macro environment?

Organisational change can be promoted by many different triggers. Which THREE of the following are external triggers of change?

A highly complex IT project is being tackled by a self-managing team of three technical specialists who had never met each other before.

At first they argued constantly for nearly two days over the best way to tackle the work and what technical software tools to use. Finally these issues were resolved, the team went out for dinner together and they agreed how best to share the workload between them.

After this point, the productivity improved dramatically and good work progress was made. All was going well until two days later when another IT specialist turned up unexpectedly. This person was far less experienced than the other three.

The new arrival explained that he would be taking over as project manager and immediately started to give explicit orders to the team.

In the context of Tuckman's team development theory, which interpretation fits the facts of the scenario.

Which of the following best describes generic competitors?

U is a retail chain of fashion outlets. It has invested in a new logistics system to control the movement of stock between its warehouses and high street retail outlets.

The project to develop and install the new system was significantly over budget and very late. Now, only three months after the new system has been installed, it is apparent that the project has not delivered its objectives. Many retail managers are complaining that they are not receiving the correct stock to sell. A meeting between the project team and project sponsor ended with everyone blaming each other.

Which of the following statements show how the use of PRINCE2 might have reduced the problems encountered?

Select ALL that apply.

Which TWO of the following is the Business Strategy of an organisation mainly concerned with?

Which of the following statements relating to disciplinary sanctions should not be true?

Select ALL that apply.

X Company's Board of Directors uses its expertise to develop future strategies. The Board defines objectives that need to be achieved and then, through formal proactive planning and careful analysis, it selects the most appropriate means to achieve them.

Which method of strategy formulation is the Board using?

During the early part of the twenty first century, B enjoyed considerable success by providing a large selection of popular movies to rent on DVD, from convenient high street retail stores. Unfortunately, B was slow to adapt to the switch from "bricks" (i.e. stores) to "clicks" (i.e. internet-based services) and  was rapidly overtaken by D and other internet-based movie services.

This is an example of a firm that enjoyed considerable success in the past, responds too slowly to changes in the external environment and perseveres for too long with the strategy that once served it very well.

Which of the following best defines this practice?

Stimulating conflict can provide benefits for the organisation. Select ALL of the following that apply.

Identify THREE advantages of a matrix organisation structure for the execution of significant business projects:

According to Hofstede (1990) a company that values tradition, education and training is said to have which of the following cultural dimensions?

Which of the following is CIMA's definition of strategy?

Company A sells golf clubs, clothing and accessories. The manager of Company A has been undertaking some competitor analysis and has been advised to consider the local gyms, cycle stores and swimming pools when identifying competition.

Which of Kotler's four levels of competition would these be classed as?

Meredith Belbin carried out some notable research which concluded that successful teams need a good balance of complementary roles and personalities. His work concluded with the definition of nine distinctive roles that people adopt when working together in a team.

Applying this research, place the correct designated Belbin role label against the relevant personal characteristics.

The difference between the latest event time and the earliest event time in a project network analysis is referred to as:

 Which of the following does NOT describe the theory of the transformational super-leader?

For complex projects, Gantt charts have limitations.

Which THREE of the following apply?

A company has used the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix to plot the position of its products according to their relative market share and the growth of the market.

It has identified that it has several products under the heading of star.

Which of the following best describes its likely cash position? 

James argues that performance appraisal has its roots in three substantiated psychological principles, meaning that people work / learn / achieve more when they are given the opportunities.

Which of the following does NOT apply?

Which TWO of the following are soft elements of culture highlighted in the McKinsey 7-S Model?