UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2014/2015
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 1204 FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT
DATE: APRIL, 2015 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE
Case study
1. Managing Ethically
In many countries it is common to give payments to the police for minor offences, such
as traffic tickets. The salaries of such officials are set absurdly low in part because the
government expects there to be such payments. If the officers do not receive such
payments they typically could not eat nor would they have housing. The same can be said
to occur with officials who deal with ports of entry and importing goods. As a result it is
often expected that an importer will make small payments to the officials at ports of entry
when trying to bring goods into a country.
Questions
1. Is it ethical to make such payments to officials at a port of entry to ensure your
goods get into this country? (6 Marks)
2. Would you be willing, personally, to make such payments? (4 Marks)
3. What would you do if your employer says payments or bribes are never permitted,
but if you do not get your goods into a given country your performance will be
judged to be negative? (5 Marks)
4. What is the relationship between ethics and the law? (5 Marks)
(Give a critical analysis in your discussion)
5. Describe the different ways a manager can help to promote an ethical
organizational culture. (10 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) Describe the importance of sharing information in an organization. (4 Marks)
b) Explain why it is important for managers to understand the nature of the
environmental forces that are acting o them and their organization. (10 Marks)
c) Analyze the implication of Maslow hierarchy of needs theory in staff motivation.
(6 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Explain the steps for the planning process. (10 Marks)
b) Explain the impact of effective goal setting on performance. (8 Marks)
c) Differentiate between objectives and aims. (2 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Why is time management considered a critical skill for the process of decision
making? Why do you think that managers known for their excellent decisions are
also experts in the art of delegation? (8 Marks)
b) What issues or problems would an organization encounter with a matrix
structure? Would you like to work in a matrix organization structure? Why or
why not? (6 Marks)
c) Explain how a manager can overcome the fear of delegating work to subordinates.
(6 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Identify an organization that you think is high performing and one that you
believe is low performing. Give reasons why you think the performance levels of
the two organizations differ so much. (10 Marks)
b) Explain how a manager can manage change to avoid resistance in the
organization. (6 Marks)
c) State the reasons why we study management and cite one striking thing that you
have learnt in this unit. (4 Marks)
