Bernd Pischetsrieder, chief executive of Volkswagen, announced restructuring plans for the company. VW is Europe's largest carmaker and needed to make itself profitable once again. To do so, VW cut thousands of jobs in the ensuing years through natural attrition, early retirement, and buying workers out of their contracts. The carmaker also considered whether its component parts factories in Brunswick, Kassel, and Wolfsburg were helping VW accomplish its organizational goal. Pischetsrieder blamed much of the company's problems on restructuring that was done in 1993. He insisted that the company is missing a whole generation of managers because its former CEO eliminated a whole layer of management. Now, 45 percent of managers were expected to go into retirement in the following three or four years. 1. Refer to Volkswagen. VW is examining the of its component parts factories.
a. efficiency.
b. synergy.
c. effectiveness.
d. autonomy.
e. reliability.
2. Refer to Volkswagen. The restructuring efforts mainly involved which of the management functions?
a. leading.
b. commanding.
c. resource allocation.
d. organizing.
e. controlling.
3. Refer to Volkswagen. Bernd Pischetsrieder exercised the organizing function when he made decisions about how to replace retiring managers. His decisions will, in turn, affect which management function as new managers come on board?
a. leading.
b. commanding.
c. resource allocation.
d. organizing.
e. controlling.
4. Refer to Volkswagen. Bernd Pischetsrieder is an example of a:
a. supervisor.
b. middle manager.
c. first-line manager.
d. team leader.
e. top manager.
5. Refer to Volkswagen. In making his announcement about restructuring, Pischetsrieder assumed the role.
a. figurehead.
b. spokesperson.
c. liaison.
d. disseminator.
e. monitor.
6. Refer to Volkswagen. In late September, Pischetsrieder flew to Brussels to meet with employees at a VW plant and explain his plans for improving the company's profitability. In this example, the CEO assumed the role of:
a. figurehead.
b. spokesperson.
c. liaison.
d. disseminator.
e. monitor.