Chapter 16: End-of-Chapter Questions

1. The easiest way to distinguish executives from lower management levels is to use their planning horizons; executives plan the firm’s activities far into the future. Another basic distinction is the fact that executives tend to have a company attitude, whereas managers on lower levels tend to show preference to their own areas of responsibility. Still another distinction is the fact that executives usually cannot pass responsibility to higher levels. This constraint makes the executive especially sensitive to the impact of his or her decisions.

2. Executives are more often associated with planning than the other Fayol management functions. This is probably the reason why Anthony used the name strategic planning level for the top level.

3. Mintzberg found that his executives devoted more time to entrepreneurial and disturbance handling roles.

4. Kotter used the term environment to mean the norms and values that influence the extent to which network members can achieve their firm’s agendas.

5. Executives probably use the systems approach as the underlying basis of their problem solving but they do not hesitate to deviate from the pattern. The same could be said for all managers.

6. Mintzberg’s managers spent 59 percent of their time in scheduled meetings.

7. The eight sources of executive information are listed below. The ones offering the best combination of volume and value are identified with an asterisk.

A. Environment

B. Upper levels

C. l level down*

D. 2 levels down*

E. 3 levels down

F. 4 levels down

G. Committees

H. Internal support units and individuals

8. According to the Jones-McLeod study, when the executives could not assign a projected decisional role to a piece of information they tended to give it a low value. The transactions that could not be associated with a decisional role had an average value of 1.1, compared to values of 3.8 to 4.8 for the transactions associated with roles.

9. Ben Heineman torpedoed the notion that executives prefer summary information by expressing a need to “muck around in the data.”

10. An EIS coach helps the executive develop an EIS, whereas an EIS chauffeur operates the EIS for the executive once it is developed.

11. Executives can improve their information systems by: (1) inventorying their information transactions, (2) stimulating high-value sources, (3) taking advantage of opportunities, (4) tailoring the system to meet their unique individual needs, and (5) taking advantage of technology.

12. The term EIS assumes that a computer is used. However, many executives have information systems that do not employ the computer at all or make little use of it.

13. Drill down makes it unnecessary to determine ahead of time whether the manager prefers summary or detail data.

14. If the executive’s information needs can be met with personal productivity software then it should be used since it is by far the least expensive. Because of its high cost, custom programming should be attempted only when the other two options fail.

15. Prewritten EIS software offers advantages of quick implementation, ease of burden on the information services staff, and good acceptance by the executives. If an executive spends thousands of dollars on a software package she or he is more likely to use it than if the cost is much less.

16. As the term is used in the chapter, a data manager is a person who is responsible for a certain category of data. The data manager ensures the accuracy of the data and understands its origin and use. A DBA, on the other hand, is responsible for the conceptual system that contains the firm’s data—the database. Like the data manager, the DBA is responsible for data accuracy insofar as it is influenced by the DBMS. Most likely the DBA is a member of the information services staff and a data manager works in a user area.

17. The executive sponsor can also perform the duties of the operating sponsor when he or she is willing to devote that level of attention.

18. Organizational resistance can best be combated with top-down support for the project by the CEO. On an individual executive basis the best way to combat resistance is to quickly meet the executive’s needs for some information so as to stimulate interest in continuing the system design effort.

19. EIS uses trickle down because it is the most user friendly information-oriented system to come along. Future systems aimed at lower management levels can be expected to incorporate many of the same features. Underlying this technical reason is the behavioral reason that lower-level managers want to know the same information that their superiors know, so as to anticipate problems that the superiors might call to their attention.

20. In the future more and more special EIS packages will be designed for microcomputers, making them the most important implementation option for small firms.

Topics for Discussion

1. There is something about being an executive that goes beyond organizational position. Much is in the person’s mind—whether she or he regards herself or himself as an executive. Much has to do with the size of the organization. It is difficult to conceive of the top person in an organization of only a handful of people as being an executive. So newsstand operators usually do not qualify.

2. Executives prefer the two-way interaction that is the basis for oral communication. Also, the executives like to observe the other person’s body language. As one of the Texas executives in the Jones-McLeod study explained “When you get information from the computer you cannot observe a crooked smile or a raised eyebrow.”

3. Executives sense a responsibility to scan information for the entire organization. By doing so they come across, much information that has little or no value. Surprisingly, many executives would rather perform information screening themselves than delegate it to someone else.

4. Someone said “Never say never,” but the likelihood of a purely computer-oriented EIS seems too remote by today’s standards.