A LevelBusinessAQAExam Questions2. Managers, Leadership and Decision-Making2.1 Management and Leadership

Management and Leadership (AQA A Level Business): Exam Questions

Exam code: 7132

Syllabus Edition

First teaching 2023

Last exams 2027

1 hour10 questions
Easy
Medium
Hard
1
1 mark

Statement 1: 'According to the Tannenbaum-Schmidt continuum, a paternalistic style of leadership is positioned closer to the employee-centred end of the continuum than the democratic style.'

Statement 2: 'A laissez-faire leadership style involves the leader setting broad goals but allowing employees to decide how those goals are achieved.'

Read statements 1 and 2 and select the correct option below.

  • Statement 1 is true. Statement 2 is true

  • Statement 1 is true. Statement 2 is false

  • Statement 1 is false. Statement 2 is true

  • Statement 1 is false. Statement 2 is false

Choose your answer

2
1 mark

Statement 1: ‘According to Blake Mouton, a country club leader has a greater concern for production than a produce or perish leader.’

Statement 2: ‘According to Blake Mouton, a team leader has a greater concern for production than a middle of the road leader.’

Read statements 1 and 2 and select the correct option from the following:

  • Statement 1 is true. Statement 2 is true.

  • Statement 1 is true. Statement 2 is false.

  • Statement 1 is false. Statement 2 is true.

  • Statement 1 is false. Statement 2 is false.

Choose your answer

3
1 mark

The Blake Mouton grid classifies leaders and managers according to their concerns for

  • environment and people.

  • law and production (task).

  • environment and law.

  • people and production (task).

Choose your answer

4
1 mark

Figure 1 below shows the Blake Mouton grid.

Blake Mouton grid with axes for concern for people and task; quadrant Y is low on both, quadrant Z is high on both.

In Figure 1, the move from point Y to point Z shows a change in leadership style:

  • from country club leader to ‘produce or perish’ leader.

  • from country club leader to team leader.

  • from impoverished leader to ‘produce or perish’ leader.

  • from impoverished leader to team leader.

Choose your answer

1
9 marks

Managers in a business have a range of leadership styles.

Analyse how these different leadership styles might impact the effectiveness of a strategy to decentralise this business.

How did you do?

2
9 marks

Managers undertake a number of roles . Analyse how the reviewing role of a human resource manager can improve the performance of the workforce.

How did you do?

3
9 marks

Case Study

Homeworking

Homeworking (or teleworking) is the action of working from home, using the Internet, email and the telephone to link the employee and the business remotely.

The number of people working from home has been rising steadily for several years as communications technology has improved.

Table 1 UK labour market data

2019

2020

Number of people in employment (millions)

32.6

32.5

Number of people working at least partly from home (millions)

8.7

Some businesses now adopt homeworking as the normal practice. For example, several financial institutions have reduced the amount of office space they own or rent in city centres. The wider impact of the change has been seen through fewer commuting journeys.

There have been some concerns over increased homeworking due to a reduction in face-to-face communication between employees. There has also been a decline in sales for businesses, such as coffee shops, that rely on office staff as customers.

Some sectors, such as transportation and wholesale, provide few opportunities for people to work from home. Other sectors, such as IT, finance and insurance, provide more homeworking opportunities to staff.

The role of a manager has different elements.

Analyse the impact of the increase in homeworking by office staff on the way that their managers fulfil their role.

How did you do?

1
12 marks

Read the case study in the Insert.

AM plc has a ‘produce or perish’ style of management.

Analyse how this may have caused the performance data for its Chinese factory to differ from the average for similar factories in China, as shown in Appendix A.

How did you do?

2
20 marks

Read the case study in the Insert.

Whereas Martin delegated most decisions, Elaine will make decisions and then tell managers what they have to do.

To what extent is this change in leadership style likely to help the company achieve its objective of improving profitability?

How did you do?

3
20 marks

Read the case study in the Insert.

To what extent does the information provided support the view that Mike is an effective leader?

How did you do?