Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

Question

1. Alison, the director of marketing for a global company, is planning the contributions she and her department will make to the organization over the next 24 months. This type of planning is called operational planning.
2. Paula is the store manager for a national grocery retailer, and she received the yearly tactical plan from Greg, her district manager. Paula is meeting with her department managers to plan how to implement the specific tasks outlined in Greg's plan for the next year. Paula is engaged in operational planning.
3. Goals are arranged in a hierarchy known as a means-end chain because in the chain of management, the accomplishment of high-level goals is the means leading to the accomplishment of low-level goals or ends.
4. Jerome's Italian Pizza is in a very competitive industry, and its upper management believes that it can achieve higher profits by focusing on a strategy of lowering costs and prices, providing quicker delivery, and providing good customer service. "Increase profits by 15% a year for each of the next five years" is an example of a strategic goal.

Answer 1

1. FALSE
Tactical planning is determining what contributions middle managers and their departments or similar work units can make with their given resources during the next 6 to 24 months.
2. TRUE
Middle managers pass along their tactical plans to first-line managers to do operational planning, whereas first-line managers determine how to accomplish specific tasks with available resources within the next 1 to 52 weeks.
3. FALSE
Goals are arranged in a hierarchy known as a means-end chain because in the chain of management, the accomplishment of low-level goals is the means leading to the accomplishment of high-level goals or ends.
4. TRUE
Strategic goals are set by and for top management and focus on objectives for the organization as a whole. For example, top managers of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines ensure that the airline is highly profitable by following the general strategy of (1) keeping costs and fares down, (2) offering a superior on-time arrival record, and (3) keeping customers happy.