According to Belbin the success of a group can depend significantly upon the balance of individual skills and personality types within the group. A well balanced group should contain eight main character types.

Which THREE of the following are character types as identified by Belbin?

The manager of Company A has decided to upgrade the IT systems in 18 months time. Although the employees understand the need and benefits from the change there is still some resistance from fear of the unknown and a question mark over the security of their jobs.

Which TWO of the methods below for dealing with change are most appropriate under these circumstances?

AW is a newly appointed manager of the accounts department in organisation S.  Her appointment has been well received by members of the department who recognise AW as a skilled and well qualified accountant.

However, AW has been frustrated by progress in departmental team meetings which tend to be unruly, unproductive and disorganised.  AW recognises a need to improve the effectiveness of the meetings.

Which THREE actions should AW take in order to have more effective meetings?

The scientific management theory of management suffers from a number of problems. Which THREE of the following apply?

Michael Porter argued that nations can develop advanced business environments that are conducive to business development and lead to firms from one nation gaining a competitive advantage over firms from other countries. Porter used a diamond shaped diagram as the basis of a framework to illustrate and analyse the determinants that lead to national advantage.

Which of the following factors are present within the diamond framework?

Select ALL that apply.

Identify THREE advantages of a matrix organisation structure for the execution of significant business projects:

K has recently qualified as a chartered management accountant after seven years in the military serving as a front-line infantry officer. He thrives in difficult situations requiring decisive action, and is accustomed to giving orders to subordinates and having them obeyed immediately. 

He is known to give his staff big bonuses and hand out harsh punishments in equal measure.  Although not particularly well liked by his team and as yet not very experienced in accountancy, he is regarded as useful by the company directors as someone who will not back away from a difficult task.

Based on the French and Raven model, which are the sources of power that K draws upon in the course of his work.

Select ALL that apply.

A highly complex IT project is being tackled by a self-managing team of three technical specialists who had never met each other before.

At first they argued constantly for nearly two days over the best way to tackle the work and what technical software tools to use. Finally these issues were resolved, the team went out for dinner together and they agreed how best to share the workload between them.

After this point, the productivity improved dramatically and good work progress was made. All was going well until two days later when another IT specialist turned up unexpectedly. This person was far less experienced than the other three.

The new arrival explained that he would be taking over as project manager and immediately started to give explicit orders to the team.

In the context of Tuckman ' s team development theory, which interpretation fits the facts of the scenario.

X Company is a car manufacturer with significant competition in the market. One of its customers is a large multinational car hire company. Place the correct level of power against the Power of Buyers.

X Company ' s Board of Directors uses its expertise to develop future strategies. The Board defines objectives that need to be achieved and then, through formal proactive planning and careful analysis, it selects the most appropriate means to achieve them.

Which method of strategy formulation is the Board using?