Managing The Company of The Future complete course is currently being offered by University of London & London Business School through Coursera platform. 

Managing The Company of The Future Quiz Answers - Week 1

Question 1) What are the major drivers of change facing business leaders today? (Tick all that apply)

• Innovation
• New technologies
• Sustainability Concerns
• Management Education
• Social and demographic change
• The rise of emerging economies

Questtion 2) What has been the primary model of organizing in the business world so far? (Please select the correct answer)

• Dictatorship
• Democracy
• Bureaucracy
• Leadership

Question 3) What is the relationship between leadership and management? (Please select the correct answer)

•  Leadership and management are substitutes
•  Leadership and management are synonyms
•  Leadership and management are complementary
•  There is no relationship between leadership and management

Question 4) Which of the following point to the fact that the traditional model of management is failing? (Tick all that apply)

•  Performance in organizations is increasing
•  There is a high level of engagement in companies
•  People are feeling disempowered in organizations
•  People do not like spending time in their workplace or with their supervisors

Question 5) Which role of the manager can give organizations an advantage in the ‘post-knowledge’ era? (Please select the correct answer)

• Worker and expert
• Monitor and controller
• Empathizer and Implementer
• Information conduit and expert

Question 6) Based on Vineet Nayar’s talk, what is an important role that catalysts played within HCL? (Please select the correct answer)

• Increase sales
• Create reverse accountability
• Created a robust structure
• Insulate power centers from accountability

Question 7) Based on Vineet Nayar’s talk, what were the consequences of making the results of the 360-degree survey available to all employees? (Tick all that apply)

•  Created competition between managers
•  Helped create better leadership
•  Increased trust among managers and employees
•  Led to changes in the compensation system for managers
•  Promoted collaboration between employees and managers

Question 8) Based on Terri Kelly’s talk, what are some of the management innovations that WL Gore created? (Tick all that apply)

• Innovation time-off
• Creating a spaghetti structure
• Removing titles in the organization
• Self-deciding what an employee wants to do
• Determining who will be a leader based on who wants to follow them

Question 9) Consider the following scenario and make a decision.

You are a manager in a large IT firm in UK. In the last survey done within the organization, you find that employees reported very low engagement levels and you suspect that this is affecting their work. You are considering which action to take to increase engagement levels, from among the following options: (Please tick all that apply)

• Provide greater responsibility to the employees for making their own decisions

• Use greater hierarchical authority to make sure that the team focuses on their work

• Use extrinsic rewards to motivate them

• Work with the managers of these employees to improve their skills in coaching and supporting their employees

Question 10) Which management innovation was created by Toyota? (Please select the correct answer)

• TQM
• Assembly Line
• Multidivisional structure
• Removing job titles

Managing The Company of The Future Quiz Answers - Week 2

Question 1) Which of the following is true about business models and management models? (Please tick the options that are true)

• A Business model reflects choices about how to motivate employees

• Among other things, a Business model reflects choices about what products an organization will sell
• Among other things, a management model reflects choices about how to co-ordinate activities within organizations.

• The only role of the management model is to address the drivers of change in the business world such as social changes, rise of emerging markets, etc.

Question 2) What are the dimensions along which the traditional and alternative models of management differ? (Please select the correct option)

• Bureaucracy, Hierarchy, Extrinsic Rewards, Linear Alignment
• Emergence, Collective Wisdom, Intrinsic rewards, Obliquity
• Sources of revenue, Cost structure, What to make/buy, How to make a profit
• Co-ordinating activities, Making decisions, Motivating employees, Defining Objectives

Question 3) You will find below two statements about management models. Based on the course material, please reflect on these statements and determine if they are true.

Statement A: The alternative principles of management such as emergence, collective wisdom, intrinsic rewards and obliquity are always the ‘right’ choice for an organization.

Statement B: The changes in the business world (as discussed in Module 1) are making the principles of the alternative management model increasingly useful but the right choice of which principles you should use depends on the context of the organization.

Based on the above statements, please select one out of the following:

• Only statement B is true
• Only Statement A is true
• Both statements A and B are true
• Neither statement A not statement B is

Question 4) Based on the course material, which management principle can be defined as: “The guiding structures that stimulate individuals to coordinate their activities, in a focused way, of their own volition.”? (Please select the correct option)

• Bureaucracy
• Hierarchy
• Emergence
• Collective Wisdom

Question 5) What are the elements on which bureaucracy and emergence differ? (Please select all that apply)

• The way people are rewarded
• Their ability to promote creativity
• Their ability to empower people
• The kind of products and services a firm sells

Question 6) Consider the following hypothetical example and then answer the question based on that:

The Government of Endor uses a model of management whereby public officials are encouraged to find projects that they think they can contribute to. There aren’t many formal rules or procedures and people form teams based on what needs to be done for the overall mission of serving the people of Endor. The team then divides tasks together based on each individual’s ability to contribute to the overall team goal; and teams self-organize based on a few very simple rules.

Which principle is the Government of Endor using? (Please select the correct option)

• Hierarchy
• Bureaucracy
• Emergence
• Linear Alignment

Question 7) The ‘collective wisdom’ of a large number of people can be channelled to aggregate inputs for which of the following things?

A: Creating an output

B: Making a decision

C: Mobilizing effort and buy-in

Please select the correct option from the following:

• A and C
• B and C
• A and B
• A, B and C

Question 8) Based on the lecture and reading material, which of the following organizations uses collective wisdom as a key feature of its management model?

• Oticon
• Tata
• Enron
• Red Hat

Question 9) Under which of the following conditions might collective wisdom fail?

• Strong intrinsic motivators
• Peer recognition
• Loss of interest among the contributors
• When there is no single boss or expert making the decision independently 

Question 10) What is the relationship between bureaucracy and emergence? (Please select the correct option)

• There is no relationship between bureaucracy and emergence.

• Bureaucracy and emergence are different names for the same concept.

• Bureaucracy and emergence are on completely opposite ends of a continuum such that you can either have only bureaucracy or only emergence.

• While there is a tension between bureaucracy and emergence, there are some hybrid models whereby which an organization can reconcile the two principles to a large degree.
• Managing The Company of The Future Quiz Answers - Week 3 

Question 1) What role does motivation play within organizations and why do managers need to think about how to motivate employees? (Please select the correct option).

• Using motivational drivers effectively allows managers to give better direction to the effort of employees.

• Using motivational drivers effectively disempowers employees

• Motivating employees effectively makes organizations slow moving and bureaucratic

• Focusing on motivating employees allows managers to move up their hierarchy of needs to meet their physiological needs.

Question 2) What is the relationship between Douglas MacGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y; and intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation? (Please select the correct option)

• Theory X is very closely linked to the concept of extrinsic motivation while Theory Y is very closely linked to the concept of intrinsic motivation.

• Theory X is very closely linked to the concept of extrinsic motivation and Theory Y is also very closely linked to the concept of extrinsic motivation.

• Theory X is very closely linked to the concept of intrinsic motivation while Theory Y is very closely linked to the concept of extrinsic motivation.

• There is no relationship between Douglas MacGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y; and intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

Question 3) For which kind of outcomes are material drivers relatively more useful? (Please select the correct option)

• Creative outcomes
• Narrow outcomes
• Doing good for the society

• Mobilizing followers 

Question 4) Intrinsic motivators based on personal drivers are more suitable for which of the following four job roles? (Please select the correct option)

• Scientists
• Shareholders
• Unskilled labour
• Assembly line workers

Question 5) Based on the discussion in Module 1 and Module 3, which of the following is true about the drivers of change in the business world and the principle of motivation? (Please select all that apply)

• Social changes are leading to changes in the way we need to motivate people
• Technology is making it easier for us to motivate people in different ways

• Concerns around sustainability are making extrinsic motivators more important
• People in emerging market countries require different motivational systems  

Question 6) Which of the following is a limitation common to all four principles of the traditional management model? (Please select the correct option)

• They are too complicated to manage
• They tend to reduce innovation and creativity
• They provide a direct link between input and output
• They take control from the hands of the management

Question 7) Consider the two examples of organizational objectives below:

“At Microsoft, our mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential.” (http://www.microsoft.com/enable/microsoft/mission.aspx)

“Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” (http://investor.fb.com/faq.cfm)

Which of the above is an example of objectives set through obliquity? (Please select one option)

• Only Facebook
• Only Microsoft
• Both Microsoft and Facebook
• Neither Microsoft nor Facebook

Question 8) Which of the following statements is true about oblique principles? (Please select the correct option)

•  Oblique goals create ambiguity
•  Oblique goals must be novel or elaborate
•  Oblique goals cannot be supported by explicit measures
•  Having oblique goals implies that the organization does not care about profits

Question 9) What is a common feature of the four alternative principles of the management model? (Please select one option)

• They all use authority to manage
• They all enforce order
• They are all designed to empower employees
• They impose tight control over components of the organization

Question 10) The Discovery model is characterized by which types of ends and means? (Please select the correct option)

• Tight means and Loose ends
• Tight means and Tight ends
• Loose means and Loose ends
• Loose means and Tight ends

Managing The Company of The Future Quiz Answers - Week 4

Question 1) Based on responses from organizations, which of the following statements is true about how organizations want their management model to change? (Please select the correct option)

• On average, most executives would like their organizations to continue using the same model as they have at the moment.

• On average, most executives would like to move their organizations a little towards the alternative models of management from where they are.

• On average, most executives would like to move their organizations a little towards the traditional models of management from where they are.

Question 2) Given the gap between the traditional models of management and the alternative models of management, what are organizations likely to encounter? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Organizations are likely to encounter forces pulling them towards both the traditional models of management and the alternative models of management.

• Organizations are likely to encounter forces pulling them towards only the traditional models of management.

• Organizations are likely to encounter forces pulling them towards only the alternative models of management.

Question 3) Which of the following is not an approach to developing an innovative management model? (Please select the correct option)

• Experimental change from below
• Decisive change led by the CEO
• Inventing a distinctive model from the start and sustaining it
• Sustaining the status-quo by rigorously following established rules and procedures

Question 4) Which of the following is a unique feature of the start-up approach to developing an innovative management model? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Getting the right colleagues and co-founders is not very critical when using the start-up approach.

• Allowing middle managers to experiment and then find a model that works best under the circumstances.

• Starting with an established and well working management model that can be adapted to make it innovative.

• Starting with a blank canvas allows the founders to impose their own values on the organization; thereby avoiding having to inherit and adapt an old model.

Question 5) Which of the following is a key challenge when using the start-up approach to developing an innovative and distinctive management model? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Keeping the project teams small
• Maintaining a transparent environment
• The founders find it challenging to impose their own values on the organization.
• Sustaining the distinctive model that was developed in the start-up phase can be very difficult as the organization grows

Question 6) Which of the following are true about taking the top down approach to developing an innovative management model? (Please select all that apply)

• The top down approach gives instantaneous results and requires little to no reinforcement.
• The top down approach to developing an innovative management model can only be taken for dimensions such as emergence and collective wisdom but not for intrinsic motivation and obliquity.

• This approach works best with a CEO who is secure and has been given a clear mandate for decisive change.

• In the examples of using the top down approach discussed in the course, there was always a clear focus on a guiding theme around what the CEO was trying to achieve.

Question 7) Which of the following are true about the likelihood of success of the bottom-up approach to developing an innovative management model? (Please select all that apply)

• Building partners and capabilities can reduce the likelihood for the new model to be successful.

• Making a clear business case and showing how the new model can generate financial savings can increase the likelihood for the new model to be accepted.

• Getting immediate visibility from senior management even when the idea is just in the initial stages can increase the likelihood for the new model to be successful.

• Making sure that what you as a middle-manager are trying to do aligns with an existing strategic priority can increase the likelihood for the new model to be successful.

Question 8) Which of the following are some of the key principles of management experimentation? (Please select all that apply)

• Focus on causes, not symptoms
• Acting on “gut” feel without an explicit hypothesis
• Iterate your idea by getting feedback early and adapting accordingly
• Developing a detailed business plan and implementing it in a regimented fashion

Question 9) Which of the following are potential ways to learn from outliers? (Please select all that apply)

• Careful use of “observe and apply”
• Replicating the outlier’s model exactly in your own company
• Focus on the underlying principle adopted by the outlier company
• Improve understanding of current practice by learning from the outlier’s experiences

Question 10) Which of the following is a reason for the ‘observe and apply’ practice of learning from outliers, failing to work? (Please select the correct option)

• There is no reason for the observe and apply practice to fail.

• The company trying to apply the practice has made a perfect observation of the practice

• The complementary practices required for the focal activity to work are not present in the company that is trying to apply them.

Managing The Company of The Future Quiz Answers -Week 5

Question 1) What would be the logical end to the following sentence?

 

The drivers of change such as technology, rise of emerging economies, etc. are bringing about greater transparency, automation and changing expectations of employees. This is likely to bring about …….” (Please select the correct option)

•  …a reinforcement of the status quo such that the role of the manager remains unchanged.

•  …a change in the relative importance of the different parts of a manager’s role in a way that reduces the emphasis on softer elements such as empathizing and helping get work done.

•  …a change in the relative importance of the different parts of a manager’s role in a way that increases the emphasis on elements such as monitoring and control.

•  …a change in the relative importance of the different parts of a manager’s role in a way that increases the emphasis on softer elements such as empathizing and helping get work done.

Question 2) In the context of this course, what is a viable alternative to thinking about management as “how do we get our employees to do what we need to get done”? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Scheduling planning meetings to define what the management wants to get done

• Communicating up front what actions are desirable and required from all employees

• How should we act to harness the latent enthusiasm and skill of employees given their aspirations, fears and concerns?

• Starting from what needs to get done and then thinking about the resources needed to get it accomplished.

Question 3) Tips such as skip-level meetings, reverse mentoring, and web enabled discussion forums serve which of the following purposes? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Monitoring and controlling.

• Establishing bureaucracy.

• Developing specialized expertise.

• Allows bosses to see the world through the eyes of their employees.

Question 4) Which of the following is a reason that makes it difficult for us as managers to do what we know we should? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Managing comes naturally to us.

• Our ability to avoid taking charge and to embrace errors.

• Our ability to give freedom and recognition to others, and share information widely.

• Our inherent biases which produce a conflict between our conscious rational part of the brain and the emotional subconscious part of the brain.

Question 5) Which of the following is a way to reinforce the good behaviours that go with the conscious part of the brain and become a better manager? (Please select all that apply)

• Seek advice

• Learning to let go

• Always avoid errors

• Focus on your strengths

• Package work into projects

• Keep full control under all situations

 

Question 6) What is an important way to change our style of working in order to increase productivity, effectiveness and the quality of work that we do? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Focus on high value-added tasks

• Focus on low value-added tasks

• Increase time spent on desk-based work

• Increase time spent on tiresome and easily off-loadable tasks
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Question 7) Which of the following is true about the Limited Liability Corporation (PLC)? (Please select all that apply)

• It is the default ownership model for large companies today

• The company exists as a legal entity where ownership is separated from control

• The owners have unlimited liability and will be held accountable beyond their investment and stake in the company

• The limited liability company is coming under a lot of pressure because the financial market constantly scrutinizes the actions of the executives of a PLC, leading to short-term and narrow thinking

Question 8) What is an advantage of alternative models of ownership such as partnerships, trusts or cooperatives over the limited liability company form of ownership? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• These alternative models are typically more short-term oriented than the limited liability form

• These alternative models are typically more long-term oriented than the limited liability form

• These alternative models all restrict the amount of liability owners have over the activities of the company

• These alternative models are new and have only existed in the recent times while the limited liability form has existed for over 150 years

Question 9) Which of the following trends are bringing about a change in the nature of work that we do? (Please select the most appropriate option)

• Many jobs are being outsourced to emerging economies.

• Technology is forcing us to work in traditional offices.

• Gen Y prefer to work for only one company throughout their professional lives.

• Sustainability agendas of companies require a different ownership structure of the company.

Question 10) Which of the following are key dimensions of work that are changing as a result of the major drivers of change? (Please select the correct option)

• Bureaucracy, Collective Wisdom and Linear Alignment.

• The nature of work we do, where we do our work, and how work varies over our working lives.
• Technology, social change, and Sustainability concerns.

• Ownership form, modes of organizing, employment relationships.

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