KEY TERMS OF MANAGEMENT FROM NON-PROGRAMMED DECISION TO RESPONSIBILITY

1.      Non programmed decision:  A decision made as a result of a unique situation.

2.     Risk:  The possibility that a decision may prove to be the wrong one, as well as the possibility that the potential gain plus additional resources may be lost as a result

3.     Certainty:  The level of confidence the decision-maker has in the information available to him or her. 

4.      Uncertainty:  The level of confidence a decision-maker lacks as a result of incomplete or suspected inaccurate information. 

5.      Ambiguity:  The goals or problems are unclear, with uncertain alternatives, and incomplete information. 

6.     Classical model:  A decision-making model that assumes that managers make decisions in the best interests of their organizations. 

7.     Normative:  The approach that shows how a manager should make decisions, with guidelines for reaching solutions in the best interest of the organization. 

8.      Administrative model:  A decision-making model in which managers make decisions in situations involving ambiguity and uncertainty. 

9.      Bounded rationality:  States that individuals are limited in their decision-making abilities due to their cognitive capacity to process only a certain amount of information. 

10.   Intuition:  An understanding of a decision situation based unconsciously on past experience. 

11.  Organizational structure 

12.   Organizing:  Employing resources for the purpose of attaining organizational goals.

13.  Organization life-cycle:  An organization’s progress from inception through decline. 

-        Birth stage:  The creation of the organization. 

-         Youth stage:  Characterized by rapid growth and market success.

-        Midlife stage:  Characterized by substantial size and prosperity. 

-        Maturity stage:  The decline of the organization due to inefficiency, excessive size, and an overly mechanistic structure. 

14.  Structure:  Framework whereby an organization clearly defines roles, leadership, resource allocation, task division, and departmental coordination. 

15.  Organization chart:  The visual depiction of an organization’s structure. 

16.  Division of labor:  The subdivision of labor into specialized tasks and individual jobs.  Also known as work specialization. 

17.  Authority:  The legitimate power accorded managers to make decisions, allocate resources, and otherwise act within his or her authorized purview.

18.    Chain of command:  An unbroken supervisory link that connects all employees within an organization, from the line worker to the CEO. 

19.   Accountability:  The requirement for those subject to authority to justify outcomes to superiors. 

20.   Responsibility:  The implicit duty of an employee to perform an assigned task.