Reference no: EM133217788

Engineering and Technology Management

Part 1: Decision Making

1) Give some examples of each of the three "occasions for decision" cited by Chester Barnard. Explain in your own words why Barnard thought the third category was most important.

2) Use a concrete example showing the five-step process by which management science uses a simulation model to solve real world problems.

3) Explain the difference between "optimizing" and "satisficing" in making decisions, and distinguish between routine and non-routine decisions.

Part 2: Organizing

1) You have begun a small but growing business. What advantages and disadvantages should you consider before changing it from a sole proprietorship to a corporation?

2) According to the Woodward and Aston studies, what conditions lead to a formalized, standardized organizational environment?

3) What changes in organization structure might you expect as a result of the information revolution?

Part 3: Some Human Aspects of Organizing

1) Outline the steps a large high-technology organization goes through to identify its plan for personnel acquisition for the next year. Identify the uncertainties that apply to each step.

2) Describe a performance appraisal technique or form with which you are familiar and assess its strengths and weaknesses.

3) It is a management dictum that authority should be equal to responsibility. Identify situations where this is not true, and suggest how this weakness might be compensated for.

Part 4: Controlling

1) Which, in your opinion, are the most important characteristics of an effective control system? Justify your choices. What other important characteristics(s) might one add?

2) Suggest some characteristics that distinguish an effective budgeting system from an ineffective one.

3) Discuss how allocation of overhead costs on the basis of direct labor might distort product pricing where some products are produced by automated machining centers and others by more labor-intensive methods.