BPOL250 Ch 10 Strategic Control and Corporate Governance

The following are characteristics of a contemporary control system, except?

• It is a key catalyst for an ongoing debate about underlying data, assumptions, and action plans.

• It must focus on constantly changing information that is strategically important.

• It circumvents the need for face-to-face meetings among superiors, subordinates, and peers.

• It generates information that is important enough to demand regular and frequent attention.

Which of the following approaches to behavioural strategic control should be utilized least in an organization in which there is a great need for innovation and a high degree of autonomy?

• Culture

• Rewards

• Boundaries

• Profits

All of the following are characteristics of effective reward and incentive systems, except:

• performance measures are clear and highly visible.

• the structure is fixed to assure employees of consistency.

• the compensation system is perceived as fair and equitable.

• objectives are well understood, and broadly accepted.

In firms with differentiation strategies, the culture should foster _____ levels of interdependence and rewards should be based primarily on _____ measures of output.

• low; financial

• low; behavioural

• high; financial

• high; behavioural

All of the following are types of information that all public corporations are required to disclose, except

• quarterly and annual filings of financial information.

• stock trading by insiders.

• details of new products under development.

• details of executive compensation packages.

Contemporary" strategic controls involve comparing actual performance to predetermined goals.

• True

• False

Reward systems that reinforce an organization's core values and contribute to organizational cohesiveness are the least effective type.

• True

• False

External control mechanisms include all of the following, except

• auditors.

• analysts.

• competitors.

• the market for corporate control.

Contemporary approaches to strategic control rely primarily on

• feedback controls.

• single-loop learning.

• double-loop learning.

• comparative learning.

The primary drawback of "traditional" strategic control systems is

• they are only appropriate when the environment is stable and simple.

• goals and objectives cannot be measured with a high level of certainty.

• they lead to complacency.

• they lack the flexibility needed to adjust to changes in the environment.