business management and change question (1 Viewer)

[ballin]

hey, we just had our first HSC assessment task for business studies, 20 Multiple choice on the first topic... nothing too tricky

except there was this one question and im SURE i've seen it before i just cant remember if my answer was right:

A manager commands intense loyalty from his employees. Which of the following would most likely be his source of power?

a) Coercive
b) Referent
c) Legitimate
d) Expert

so i definitely know its not B or D. i chose C as the best answer, because you cant adequately justify that his power basis is coercive from that particularly scenario. i know this question is around somewhere, can anyone help??

 

[Dark Phoenix]

i hav never encountered that type of question before in the past HSC papers. i think i would remember that question coz i did all the HSC MC questions before my exam. it could possibly be a question from the catholic paper or independent paper. anyway its definately not referent or expert like u said. but when it says 'commands intense loyalty' it could be coercive. thats what i think anyway

 

[ballin]

yeah i understand that, thats the dilemma i had during the exam. but it came down to this: NOWHERE in the question did it make reference to the manager being able to punish employees. We CANNOT just infer it is coercive, in this particular situation. it simply says he's a manager, they are employees and as such, he wants their loyalty. i still think its legitimate. HELP

 

[ballin]

so, Without Wings, what would your answer have been?

 

[ballin]

OMG. im so freaking pissed off right now. My school said that the answer to the above question was........ REFERENT! no freaking way.

And, it gets worse. THere was another question - Sue has become the new CEO of a business. She retains the flat management structure, but decides that, because of low profits all managers must have their decisions endorsed by her authority. After a few months, some managers are still not cooperating. WHich management theory has Sue applied?

A - Behavioural B - Classical C - Political D - Contingency

OK. I put contigency, as did many other Business Studies students. But alas, to our dismay, the answer was in fact.... POLITICAL. WoW. The whole argument was - "Contingency is not technically a theory... its an approach." If you can get over your shock, check out this breakdown:

Reasons for Contingency 1 - The first and strongest reason in my opinion. Sue has altered her management in response to changing circumstances. This SCREAMS contingency.
2 - The question includes elements of the behavioural theory AND the classical scientific theory. COntigency is an integrated approach to management, no?
3 - THERE IS NO FREAKING POLITICS IN THE FREAKING QUESTION!!!

Reasons For Political 1 - Well, contingency is an approach, not a theory.

Ok. So its 3 Vs 1. Multiple choice is all about choosing the most correct/appropriate answer. In this case, it should be contingency. The question btw, is from the Business Specimen Paper, to which there are no multiple choice answers , although Excel does include answers (they reckon its contingency) but i dont know how effective Excel would be as evidence supporting my argument. Any thoughts?

 

[manoo]

well Ballin, b4 i looked at the correct answer u gave i guessed POLITICS bcos in the political system not everyone is controlled, so not everyone coooperates. And didn't the question say "some managers are still not cooperating".

 

[veloc1ty]

A manager commands intense loyalty from his employees. Which of the following would most likely be his source of power?

a) Coercive
b) Referent
c) Legitimate
d) Expert

so i definitely know its not B or D. i chose C as the best answer, because you cant adequately justify that his power basis is coercive from that particularly scenario. i know this question is around somewhere, can anyone help??

It's clearly referent. Key word: loyalty.

Coercive: Not this. You can't assume he is coercing them in some way not mentioned to justify this answer.
Expert: While being a manager may mean you are expert in some area it does not mean you will get loyalty - only obedience and perhaps respect.
Legitimate: The next best answer, but once again, loyalty is not the thing you'd get from legitimate power.

Sue has become the new CEO of a business. She retains the flat management structure, but decides that, because of low profits all managers must have their decisions endorsed by her authority. After a few months, some managers are still not cooperating. WHich management theory has Sue applied?

A - Behavioural B - Classical C - Political D - Contingency

OK. I put contigency, as did many other Business Studies students. But alas, to our dismay, the answer was in fact.... POLITICAL. WoW. The whole argument was - "Contingency is not technically a theory... its an approach." If you can get over your shock, check out this breakdown:

Reasons for Contingency 1 - The first and strongest reason in my opinion. Sue has altered her management in response to changing circumstances. This SCREAMS contingency.
2 - The question includes elements of the behavioural theory AND the classical scientific theory. COntigency is an integrated approach to management, no?
3 - THERE IS NO FREAKING POLITICS IN THE FREAKING QUESTION!!!

Reasons For Political 1 - Well, contingency is an approach, not a theory.

Ok. So its 3 Vs 1. Multiple choice is all about choosing the most correct/appropriate answer. In this case, it should be contingency. The question btw, is from the Business Specimen Paper, to which there are no multiple choice answers , although Excel does include answers (they reckon its contingency) but i dont know how effective Excel would be as evidence supporting my argument. Any thoughts?

Your reasons aren't very good.

1: She alters her response because she is a new CEO, she hasn't been there for 5 years and then decided they need to try a different approach.
2: The political theory can also contain elements of other theories, can't it?
3: Politics is about power. She has given herself power but making everyone defer to her.

In my opinion, they're all approaches, not just theories, so what they said was silly.

Now again, the key word: which management theory has Sue applied? She has applied the political theory/approach, so it doesn't matter if it was contingency, behavioural or classical-scientific before, she applied a political element.
[SIZE=-1] [/SIZE]

 

[orly?]

omg wow.. i'm so behind this stuff still stuck on skills of management. crappy school i know.

 

[kiran.nautiyal]

It's clearly referent. Key word: loyalty.

Coercive: Not this. You can't assume he is coercing them in some way not mentioned to justify this answer.
Expert: While being a manager may mean you are expert in some area it does not mean you will get loyalty - only obedience and perhaps respect.
Legitimate: The next best answer, but once again, loyalty is not the thing you'd get from legitimate power.


Your reasons aren't very good.

1: She alters her response because she is a new CEO, she hasn't been there for 5 years and then decided they need to try a different approach.
2: The political theory can also contain elements of other theories, can't it?
3: Politics is about power. She has given herself power but making everyone defer to her.

In my opinion, they're all approaches, not just theories, so what they said was silly.

Now again, the key word: which management theory has Sue applied? She has applied the political theory/approach, so it doesn't matter if it was contingency, behavioural or classical-scientific before, she applied a political element.

wow you're soo smart

 

[eskimoh]

yeh for that second question.. id say its political bcos of the power aspect
shes demanding/asserting her power and there seems to be the presence of coalitions who need to have different sorts of roles/powers (ie. all the managers are one coalition, and as the new CEO shes trying to gain authority over them) and the political theory has a stakeholder based goal (and the question mentions profits going down.. which would go against the demands and wants of the shareholders)

 

[Seza16]

Hi I would have said political because as you said or was it your teacher contingency is an approach the other three are theories...

Authority suggests that there is political veiws behind it...