Concept Check – Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5 – Required (Graded).

1. What are the benefits and costs of planning? a. Benefits i. Intensifies effort: Managers and employees put forth greater effort when following a plan. ii. Bolsters Persistence: Employees will work hard for long periods. iii. Imparts direction: plans encourage managers and employees to direct their persistent efforts toward activities that help accomplish their goals and away from activities that don’t. iv. Furthers development of task strategies: Planning encourages employees to think of better ways to do their jobs. v. Boasts a proven track record: Planning has been proven to work for both companies and individuals. b. Costs vi. It can impede change and prevent or block needed adaptation: Employees can become so committed to achieving the goals that they fail to see that their plan may not be working. vii. It can create a false sense of certainty: Plans are built on assumptions; if those assumptions are incorrect, you may not predict disasters. viii. It can suffer from the detachment of planners: Planners may be good at planning but may not be good at implementing. What good is a plan that is not put into action?

2. What are proximal and distal goals? Which type of goals is more effective? c. Proximal goals: short-term goals or subgoals. They are often more motivating than waiting to achieve far-off distal goals. d. Distal goals: long-term or primary goals.

3. How can companies build flexibility into their plans? e. By using options-based planning ix. Maintaining planning flexibility by making small, simultaneous investments in many alternative plans. f. Taking a learning-based approach to planning by using learning-based planning.

4. How