ALFRED
P.
WORKING PAPER
SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
THE EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY-SITUATION CONGRUENCE
IN A MANAGERIAL CONTEXT:
LOCUS OF CONTROL AND BUDGETARY PARTICIPATION
by
Peter Browne 11
WP 1170-80
November 1980
MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
50 MEMORIAL DRIVE
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139
THE EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY-SITUATION CONGRUENCE
IN A MANAGERIAL CONTEXT:
LOCUS OF CONTROL AND BUDGETARY PARTICIPATION
by
Peter Browne 11
WP 1170-80
November 1980
:
The Effects of Personality-Situation Congruence
in a Managerial Context
Locus of Control and Budgetary Participation
ABSTRACT
Forty-six
undergraduate
business
middle-level management personnel
from
school
a
students
forty-eight
and
large manufacturing company took
part in a laboratory experiment designed to examine the impact of internal-
external locus of control on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance.
oriented
subjects
Results indicated that, as hypothesized, internally-
conditions
of
situational control)
and
performed
best
(corresponding to substantial
subjects performed best
to
limited
situational
in
in
high
participation
externally-oriented
conditions of low participation (corresponding
control).
In
addition,
the
subjects
in
these
two
highest performing groups indicated more enjoyment in the experimental task
than did
their counterparts in
less-preferred,
or
incongruent
conditions.
These results are consistent with previous literature which has shown task
performance
to
be
subject
to
the
interaction
between
generalized
expectancies in terms of I-E locus of control, and the source of control in
a
particular situation.
The
implications of these results for personnel
selection and placement in organizations is discussed.
nHO°i^4
-1-
The Effects of Personality-Situation Congruence
in a Managerial
Context:
Locus of Control and Budgetary Participation
Personality
powerful
accounting
in
generally
variables
have
Foran and DeCoster,
1974,
their disappointing
explanatory power is due
It
to
was the
seminal
work in
the
a
very
be
Birnberg,
1978;
neglect on the part of
situation within which to
a
An example of an exception
observe the effects of personality differences.
this
to
likely that one reason for
is
researchers to exercise care in the choice of
to
not
Shields and
research (see Mc Ghee,
for example).
found
been
managerial
area
of
Vroom
(1960)
who
studied the effects of authoritarianism on the relationship between
participation
While
in
decision
making,
performance
and
and
job
satisfaction.
observing no particular direct effect of authoritarianism on
performance
matter)
and
job
satisfaction
(nor
any
participation
for
for
that
very powerful interaction effects was found.
a
This paper reports the results of a laboratory study of the effects of
internal-external
locus
of
between participation and
control
performance in
on
1966)
(Rotter,
a
the
relationship
budgetary context.
The
motivation for this study stems from two differing sets of considerations.
Firstly,
academicians in the management accounting area are plagued by the
inability
to
participation
conclusively claim an understanding of the effects of
in
budgeting,
or,
rather,
differing effects can be expected.
with
conflicting
results.
Secondly,
the
conditions under
The literature
in
the
area
which
in the area is replete
of
psychology,
several
studies have formed a line of research showing that internal-external locus
of control is likely to interact with certain situational
characteristics,
specifically
source
the
control
of
task
over
performance
inherent
Varying degress of budgetary participation,
given situation.
in
a
was felt,
it
would tend to elicit a range of attributions on this dimension.
paper
The
literature,
organized
is
elaborating
above will
be
on
follows:
as
the
two
in
motivations
Sections dealing
summarized.
next
the
with
study
this
for
the
previous
section,
discussed
hypothesis, method,
results and finally, discussion, will follow in turn.
PREVIOUS LITERATURE
Budgetary participation refers to the extent
which
to
an
individual
perceives involvement in and influence on the decisions which result in the
formulation of
sales.
This
a
is
generally felt
plan
an
that
or
areas
as
to
gain
the
to
a
certain
level
of
organizational
the viewpoints
members
to
ideas of
and
the
While positive effects of participation have been observed in
attitudes
of
(Kenis,
1973), motivation
Cherrington,
1979),
job
(Hofstede,
satisfaction
1967)
and
were
(1960)
unable
to
replicate
the
Coch
and
(Cherrington
performance
French, 1948), conflicting evidence can also be found.
As
or
accounting issued because it is
commitment
incorporate
profits
of
spite of the intuitive appeal of this notion, research results
In
are mixed.
the
such
important management
budgets, management needs
former.
target,
French,
(
Coch and
Israel and
results
French
and
in
a
different cultural setting, and Bryan and Locke (1967) actually found that
performance
may
Charnes
Stedry
evidence
and
...
even
be
(1963)
higher
under
concluded
that participation
...
conditions
that
is
so
"it
is
of
not
low
participation.
clear
from
recent
advantageous as to preclude the
inclusion of non-participatively set goals", Hopwood (1976) reiterated this
viewpoint and
exhorted
researchers to try to "identify which conditional
-3-
factors determine
impact cf
wider
the
management programme".
particular type of participative
a
This is the aim of this paper.
Turning to relevant literature in psychology, several studies confirm
the
importance
consideration
giving
cf
the
to
between
"congruence"
individual personality in terms of internal-external locus of control, and
the
characteristics
control
situation.
internals performed
experimental
better
conditions
experimenter-controlled
additionally indicated
In a
in
a
et
al.
reaction-time
a
conditions.
it
under
test
was found that
sslf-controlled
high
Both
under
better
performed
performing
groups
preference for their congruent condition.
verbal
a
1961),
externals
while
task-related
particular
in
early study (Cromwell,
an
In
inherent
slightly different, but related vein, Rotter and Mulry (1965) found
a
significant interaction between locus of control and the use of "skill" or
instructions affecting
"chance"
desirable outcome.
time)
Internals
when they were instructed
subjects'
exerted more
or
similar
"chance",
recall
error
substantially
in
higher
conclusions are due
also
to
the
in
under their own control.
"other"
or
pursuit
a
experimental
task
Externals displayed
controlled
conditions,
by
Pursuing the same basic question, Watson and Baumal (1967) found
contrast.
that
the
in
the
in
(measured by decision
effort
that performance
was a function of skill,
behavior
perserverance
Baron
and
paired-associate
a
for
subjects
in
Houston (1972)
to
Ganz
(1972)
who
nonsense
incongruent
who
used
employed
an
a
syllables
task
Similar
conditions.
digit-reversal
"acorns and
was
test,
pea"
and
type of
task.
The
relevance
of
locus
of
control
in
the
context
cf
budgetary
participation stems from the connection between participation and source of
situational
control.
Under
high
participation conditions,
an
individual
-4-
will likely perceive substantial
control over the selection of
goal
a
and
hence performance, v/here performance is defined as extent of departure from
goal (budget).
By contrast,
low participation is likely to induce feelings
of very little situational control.
HYPOTHESIS
Following
the
reasoning
presented
above,
high
participation,
characterized as substantial situational control, is expected to represent
a
congruent
condition only for
reflect this congruence.
internals
Conversely,
and
performance
is
expected
low participation is expected
to
to
be
congruent only for externals and, again, performance is expected to reflect
Presented in null form, the hypothesis can be stated as follows:
this.
There vail be no interaction between locus
and participation affecting performance.
of
control
METHOD
Subjects
Two
separate
samples were recruited
take
to
part
in
the
study.
46
undergraduate accounting students, typically sophomores or juniors, formed
the first sample,
level managers
while for purposes of systematic replication, 48 middle-
from
a
large
formed the second sample.
By
San
Francisco
Bay
replicating with
Area manufacturing
a
Company
sample of the population
of ultimate interest, it was hoped that the generalizability of the results
could be enhanced.
Metho d
An
experimental
instructions to
experiment.
a
session
began
with
the
subjects
reading
a
set
of
computerized business game which formed the task in the
Following any necessary clarification of these
instructions,
-5-
subjects
were
computer
terminal
alone
left
via
in
which
sound-proof
snail,
or
of
indicating which of the two alternative forced-choice items in
"B"
Unlike the pencil-and-
each of the 29 pairs they more strongly endorsed.
versions
paper
The
administration
the
a
Subjects were required to type
Rotter's 29-item locus of control measure.
"A"
by
business game would be conducted.
the
interaction with the computer began with
subjects'
serviced
cubicies,
of
this
test,
made
method
this
considerably
it
more
difficult for subjects to refer back to previous responses when addressing
a
particular pair of items.
To
do
subjects would have to retrieve the
so,
hard-copy computer output conveyed into
a
tray behind the terminal.
Upon
completion of the 29-item measure, the business game started.
In the game,
in
an
subjects assumed the role of one of four senior managers
organization
make two decisions;
sales
charged
units
in
for
the
one regarding
for
the
product
a
perishable
single
a
the subjects were required to
recommendation for the budgeted level
and
quarter,
during
sells
and
For each of twenty fiscal quarters,
product.
of
manufactures
which
the
one
quarter.
regarding
The
the
game
price
procedure
to
for
be
a
sample quarter will now be detailed.
First,
the
subjects
were
asked
to
make
their
first
decision,
submission of their recommendation for the sales budget in units.
a
To guide
subjects in the first few quarters of the game, the results of the previous
four quarters were provided on a sheet of paper in the laboratory cubicle.
These were the only data subjects had
of
the
twenty
quarters.
As
the game
available to work with in the first
proceeded,
however,
the
results of
each completed quarter became available in hard copy, and the subject could
refer back to these data as desired.
Following the subject's submission of
the
each of
recommendations of
after
and,
delay,
short
a
that
consideration to the four managers'
It was at
make
would
the
budget
the
in
the
giving
differed
in
each
participation condition,
the subject's recommendation
and
to
attached
average of the other three recommendations.
condition,
randomly
were
the
weights
assigned
to
were,
of
one
a
respectively,
these
two
of
two
weight of
a
weight of C.l was
0.9 was attached
the
The
average of the four
was a weighted
weights
In the high
participation conditions.
Subjects
instruction
decision,
final
top
recommendations.
top management
however,
recommendations;
participation
by
this point that the participation induction took place.
final determination of
to
presented
were
the
of
informed
Subjects had been
management
top
three managers
determination
final
the
management was presented.
sheet
other
the
budget volume recommendation,
a
In
0.05
and
conditions
low
the
0.95.
the
for
duration of the game.
After being informed of top management's determination of the budget,
the subjects were presented with a statement of the percentage deviation of
each of the four recommendations from the final decision of top management.
subjects in the high participation
Due to the nature of the manipulation,
condition would
their own
deviation
recommendation
of
percentage deviation of
typically observe a much smaller
any
of
the
from
other
the
final
three
budget
managers.
than the
The
percentage
purpose
of
this
statement of percentage deviations was to highlight the extent to which the
subject's recommendation was reflected in the final
budget,
thereby
strengthening the participation induction.
In
the
the present context, participation is therefore operational ized
as
which
is
amount
of
influence
an
individual
has
on
a
final
budget
„7-
jointly set.
to check the level
In order
important items (numbers
4
2,
seme
of perceived participation,
and 6) were included in the post-experimental
check questionnaire, presented
in
Appendix
1.
Subjects were next informed of the level of advertising expenditure to
be
for the subjects
was
alone,
price
1
second decision, the price to be charged.
responsible
combined
which,
actual
In
This was followed by
undertaken in the forthcoming quarter.
with
the
instruction
the
sheet
expenditure,
advertising
sales volume exactly equal
the
to
mentioned
Each subject,
The objective was
this decision.
for
final
b udget
subjects
earlier,
request
a
to
select a
produce
would
of top management.
were
told
product
charge
which
too
short of budget (due to too high a price)
was
litle
dumped due
to
its
perishable nature.
result
in
the
sale
would
would also generate unfilled orders.
minimize
the
departure,
in
of
all
led
view
to
departures from budget in either direction as equally undesirable.
levels which fell
an
to
Sales
unsold
Conversely,
available
product
to
but
The game objective was, therefore, to
either direction,
of
actual
sales
from
budget
and performance was measured in this way.
The underlying
functional relationship between sales volume and price
and advertising was as follows:
Q = 40,000 - 20p + A/2
where
is quantity sold (including unfilled orders)
p is the price charged in cents,
and
A is the advertising expenditure
Pilot testing of several
relationships indicated that an
functional
appropriate level of complexity was captured by this function.
In
This
the final
report
phase of
summarized
the
a
quarter,
a
performance report was presented.
decisions made
and
the budget
variance
which
.
performance being measured by the
resulted,
variance.
Appendix
sample output for a high participation subject is presented in
2.
important point to note
An
fact
A
absolute value of the budget
sales level
no budgeted
that
any other.
in
connection with the game design is the
was any more difficult
possible budget levels,
For all
to
achieve than
there existed one price which
Therefore,
would "clear the market" and produce the desired zero variance.
irrespective of whether the final budget of top management was arrived at
conditions
under
of
high
or
low
participation
one
,
price
single
(in
combination with the given advertising expenditure) would produce an actual
identical
level
sales
to
budget.
No
difference
systematic
task
in
difficulty therefore existed between the high and low participation groups.
RESULTS
Descriptive statistics from the I-E locus of control
presented
are
external
than
in
Table
managers
1.
Note
(t=2.84,
students
that
p<0.01).
INSERT TABLE
1
For
4
and 6
of
the
post-experimental
significantly more
subject
both
responses
groups,
the
HERE
participation manipulation appeared successful.
2,
are
scale
The responses to questions
questionnaire
indicated
significant
differences between subjects in the two treatment groups both for students
(t=9.15, p<0.01; t=8.87, p<0.01 and trll.34, p<0.01, for questions
6
respectively)
p<0.01)
and
managers (t=9.27,
p<0.01;
t=8.44,
p<0.01
and
2,
4 and
t=6.I8,
-9-
Following the exhortation of Rotter (1975,
to categorize locus of control
a
p.
62)
it
was decided
not
Instead,
scores into interned and external.
multiple regression approach was used, and the model set out in equation
(1)
was tested.
Y
=
where
6,
+
b
2
X
+
yZ
-<-
6XZ
performance,
Y is
(1)
twenty trials of the game
variance
budget
average
the
each subject.
for
the
over
Note
that
control
and
larger values of Y denote inferior performance.
X
is locus of control score
Z
is a 0/1 binary variable for participation
1
and
for low participation
for high participation
interaction
the
XZ is
between
locus
of
participation.
Student Sample
The results of
2
2.
for
The null
the
regression in equation (1)
the
term
(1)
In
order
in
further
to
was decomposed
For Z = 1,
equation
(1).
It
was
6,
found
in
Table
the coefficient
that
6
departed
permitting rejection of the null hypothesis of no
from zero significantly,
equation
presented
hypothesis is tested via examination of
interaction
interaction.
are
explore
the
nature
of
the
interaction,
into two separate equations.
i.e. high participation,
Y = (B, + Y
For Z = 0, i.e.
)
+
(B
2
+ «)X +
(2)
e
low participation,
Y=Bi+6 X+e
(3)
2
INSERT TABLES
2
AND
3
HERE
.
-10-
Table
presents
3
derived
errors
use
the
variance/covariance
the
from
with
computed
of
equation
these results is provided in Figure
matrix
coefficients
the
of
of
representation
Diagrammatic
(1).
Examination of the coefficients and
1.
INSERT FIGURE
their
together with their standard
composite coefficients
the
1
HERE
standard errors permits the conclusion of
a
interaction
disordinal
between locus of control and particiption
technique
Johnson-Neyman
The
Pedhazur,
1973,
ordinality.
was
256)
p.
employed
as
further
a
Kerlinger
example,
for
(see,
test
and
interaction
of
difference between performance of the high participation
The
group and the low participation group is significant outside the range of
I-E scores,
to
8.46
mean
the
13. CO
to
score
or,
respectively,
-0.02a and +1.20o in relation
result
is
techniques was employed
to
of
8.52.
This
consistent
also
with
a
disordinal interaction.
Manager Sample
The
same set
of
forty-eight managers who formed the sample for
(Carlsmith,
Table
et
and
4,
presented
in
interaction,
Outside
the
al
.
1976).
,
The
Table
Again,
5.
and
the
range
of
formed
the
for
equations
evidence
data
the
of
the
"systematic replication"
results of the analysis
coefficients
the
a
analyze
points
are
presented
(2)
and
to
a
(3)
in
are
disordinal
Johnson-Neyman technique confirms this result.
I-E
scores
2.56
(-0.74°)
to
6.35
(+0.54°),
the
performance differences between high and low participation conditions reach
significance.
.
-11-
were
interest
Further
Of
questionnaire
check
(1)
for both groups,
students
variable
dependent
the
as
(t=-1.71,
in
regression
a
managers (t=-1.95,
and
p<0.05)
(budget
This
negative.
are
variance)
scaled
is
surrogate
a
identical
p<0.01).
for
equation
to
2
Notice,
that
and 4,
these
performance
that
fact
the
to
fashion
reverse
in
of the post-
1
reported in Tables
due
is
post-
was significant for both
the interaction term,
and 6,
as
the
The response to this question was
unlike the interaction coefficients (o)
coefficients
employed
were
"preferred conditions of participation".
employed
from
The responses to question
experimental check questionnaire.
experimental
obtained
results
other
"preferred conditions"
to
(game enjoyment)
One
final
regressions
manager
test
conducted
regression
(the
subjects).
assess
to
(Chow,
test
homogeneity
the
subjects
student
for
Chow
The
was
1960)
the
and
based
is
of
the
two
regression
for
the
on
sums
of
squared residuals in each regression and the sum of squared residuals from
a
single,
regression
pooled
that
examination
the
the
of
is
a
regression with N=94;
The derived test statistic was
and 48 managers).
indicating
(that
regressions
two
means
for
are
consistent with significantly different
each
sample.
V
the
for
student
>,
variable
students
10.42 (p<0.01)
=
different.
significantly
dependent
the
„,
F.-,
46
in
each
sample
An
is
regression coefficient values for
subjects W3S 2535 and
for
the managers,
Y=3B99, a difference which is statistically significant (p<0.01).
DISCUSSION
Internal
subjects
situational control)
condition
(limited
in
and
the
high
external
situational
participation
condition
(substantial
subjects in the low participation
control)
were
the
two
best
performing
.
-12-
groups, and each reported significantly more enjoyment of the experimental
task than did the subjects in incongruent conditions.
has been suggested
It
Mulry
and
Rotter
that
impact of incongruence is on anxiety.
the
indicated
(1965)
anxiety
such
that
occur
will
when
an
individual's expectations and preferences concerning means to ends are not
Mandler and Watson (1966) offer
met.
a
similar interpretation, suggesting
that anxiety occurs when an organized response sequence is interrupted and
no
alternative
is
offer no new evidence of
precise
the
experiment
this
data of
the
Unfortunatley,
available.
nature of the processes responsible
for the result
In
bear
the
managerial
personnel
on
the
realm,
selection
implications of these
placement
and
description
role
the
for
an
individual
in
degree
The
issues.
participation in the budgeting process may be regarded as
in
probably
results
an
a
of
major element
organization.
Increasingly, personnel theorists and empiricists are pursuing the question
of
types
what
roles?
of
individuals
appropriate
are
for
various
organizational
Figler (1977) has described this task as one of creating the right
"chemistry"
between
characteristics
the
characteristics
organizational
of
interactions between
elements of
uncovered,
selection
supported
personnel
with
a
knowledge
of
roles.
the
two
of
indiviudals
Importantly,
sets
and
placement
the
right
of
occupations, both between and within organizations.
the
significant
characteristics can be
activities
"fit"
if
and
between
can
be
better
individuals
and
-13-
TAPLE
SUMMARY STATISTICS
Sample
-
1
LOCUS OF CONTROL MEASURES
-14-
TABLE
2
RESULTS OF REGRESSION - HYPOTHESIS TEST
Coeffi
-15-
TABLE 3
CCMPOSITE REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS
Coefficient
-
STUDENT SAMPLE
-16-
TABLE 4
RESULTS OF REGRESSION
Coefficien
-
HYPOTHESIS TEST
-17-
TABLE 5
COMPOSITE REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS '- MANAGER SAMPLE
Coefficient
-18-
FIGURE
1
DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF RESULTS
-
STUDENT SAMPLE
Budget
Variance
(i.e. performance)
Participation
4
Participation
<-
internal
Locus of Control
external-*
-19-
FCJOTNUTES
1.
fact, these were robots, and their recommendations were
In actual
randomly generated from
2.
a
uniform distribution.
.
The residuals of this regression were tested for constant variance.
Bartlett's test, (x 2
=
18.06)
fails to permit rejection of the null
hypothesis of homoscedastic error structure.
However the direction of
the test result did reveal a (statistically insignificant)
tendency for
error variance to be larger among externals in the high participation
This
condition and internals in the low participation condition.
result is interesting because the notion that incongruence should
produce erratic performance is consistent with the expectations for the
major hypothesis.
3.
This decomposition follows Kmenta's (1971) use of equation
peace-time and war-time consumption functions.
4.
Equation
(x
2
=
1
to specify
See Kmenta p. 421.
again proved satisfactory statistically.
17.34)
1
Bartlett's test
fails to permit rejection of the null hypothesis of
constant error variance.
-20-
REFERENCE5
Baron,
R.M. & Ganz,
R.L.
Effects of locus of control and type of
feedback on the task performance of lower-class black children.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 21,
Bryan, J.F. & Locke, E.A.
motivation.
124-130.
Goal setting as a means of increasing
Journal of Applied Psychology, 1967, 274-277.
Further explorations in the theory of
Charnes, A., & Stedry, A.C.
multiple budgeted goals.
Research paper no. 12, Organization Research
Program, School of Industrial Management, M.I.T., Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1963.
Cherringtcn, D.J. & Cherrington, J.O.
Appropriate reinforcement
contingencies in the budgeting process.
Accounting:
Chow, G.C.
Empirical Research in
Selected Studies, 1973, 225-253.
Tests of equality between sets of coefficients in two linear
regressions.
Econometrica, 1960, 28, 591-605.
Coch, L. & French, J.R.P.
Relations, 1948,
1,
Human
Overcoming resistance to change.
512-533.
Cromwell, R.L., Rosenthal,
D.
,
Shakow, D.K., & Zahn, T.P.
Reaction
time, locus of control, choice behavior and descriptions of parental
behavior in schizophrenic and normal subjects.
Personality, 1961, 29, 363-380.
Journal of
-21-
How to hire an executive - intelligently.
Figler, H.R.
Personnel
Journal, 1977, 56, 351-366.
Foran,
M.
&
An experimental
DeCoster, D.T.
study of the effects oof
participation, authoritarianism and feedback on cognitive dissonance
The Accounting Review, October 1974,
in a standard setting situation.
551-563.
French, J.R.P.,
a
Israel, J., & As, D.
Norwegian facotry:
Human Relations, 1960,
An experiment on participation in
interpersonal dimensions of decision-making.
1,
3-20.
Hofstede, G.H., The game of budget control.
Accounting and human behavior.
Hopwood, A.G.
Assen:
Van Go re urn, 1967.
Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice-Hall, 1976.
Houston, B.K.,
stress.
Control over stress, locus of control, and response to
Journal oT Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 21,
249-255.
Kenis,
I.
Effects of budgetary control characteristics on managerial
attitudes and performance.
The Accounting Review, October 1979,
707-721.
Kerlinger, F.N. & Pedhazur
research:
New York:
,
E.J.
Multiple regression in behavioral
Holt Rinehart and Winston,
Inc., 1973.
-22-
Krnenta,
Mandler,
C.
The elements of econometrics.
J.
G.
Macmillian, 1971.
Anxiety and the interruption of behavior.
Watson, D.
&
New York:
Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety and behavior.
New York:
In
Wiley, 1966,
263-288.
McChee, W.
,
Shields, M.D., & Birnberg, J.G.
on a subject's information processing.
The effects of personality
The Accounting Review, July,
1978, 681-697.
Rctter, J.B. &
Mulry,
Internal versus external control of
R.
reinforcement and decision time.
Psychology, 1965,
Rotter, J.B.
2,
Journal of Personality and Social
598-604.
Generalized expectancies for internal versus external
control of reinforcement.
Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80,
1,
whole No. 609.
Vroom, V.H.
Some personality determinants of the effects of
participation.
The Ford Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Series,
1960.
Watson, D. & Baumal
,
E.
Effects of locus of control and expectation of
future control upon present performance.
Social Psychology, 1967, 6, 212-215.
Journal of Personality and
APPE NDIX
1
POST-r vpFRH-EN TA L CHECK QUESTIONNAIRE
The following set of questions is intended to elicit your opinions
Each question is
impressions of the business game in general.
responded to by circling the number on the scale which corresponds to the
It is important that
point which you ^vel best indicates your belief.
you carefully consider your responses, since they will be taken into
consideration in the improvement of the game for future use.
end
1.
12
Indicate the extent of which you enjoyed playing the game.
3
4
5
6
Moderate
Enjoyment
Minimal
Enjoyment
7
Great
Enjoyment
Indicate the extent to which you felt your input to the BUDGET
formulation influenced top management in their final determinations on
the budget.
2.
12
3
4
5
6
Moderate
Influence
Great
Influence
7
Minimal
Influence
Indicate the extent to which you felt confident about the decisions
for PPvODUCT PRICE which you were required to make during the game.
3.
12
3
Great
Confidence
4
5
6
7
Minimal
Confidence
Moderate
Confidence
Indicate the extent to which you felt that your recommendations for
the BUDGET were reflected in the final determinations of top management.
4.
12
3
Minimal
Reflection
5.
an
4
5
6
7
Great
Reflection
Moderate
Reflection
Indicate the extent to which you felt that your PRICE decisions had
on the demand for product.
12
i mpact
3
Great
Impact
4
5
6
7
Minimal
Impact
Moderate
Impact
Indicate the extent to which you feel that your recommendations for
the BUDGET dominated those of the other managers.
6.
12
Minimal
Dominance
3
4
Moderate
Dominance
5
6
7
Great
Dominance
-24-
APPENDIX
2
SAMPLE OUTPUT FOR ONE PERIOD OF GAME
-
HIGH PARTICIPATION SUBJECT
BUDGET FORMULATION FOR QUARTER 31
PLEASE ENTER YOUR RECOMMENDED SALES BUDGET:
24600
(Y/N)
Y
IS 24600 CORRECT?
OTHER MANAGERS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
28000
#2
27800
3140
#3
#4
THE FINAL DETERMINATION BY TOP MANAGEMENT IS
TARGET FOR THE FORTHCOMING QUARTER.
25000.
THE PERCENTAGE DEVIATION OF EACH MANAGER'S
THIS FINAL DETERMINATION IS AS FOLLOWS:
RECOMMENDATION
YOUR RECOMMENDATION
0.
THIS IS YOUR
FROM
02%
12.00%
MANAGER #2
MANAGER #3
MANAGER #4
11. 20%
25. 60%
OPERATING DECISIONS FOR QUARTER #1
THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT HAS ADVISED THAT ADVERTISING
BASED ON A
EXPENDITURE FOR THE COMING QUARTER WILL BE $14000.
SALES BUDGET OF 25000 UNITS AND AN ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE OF
$14000,
PLEASE ENTER YOUR DECISION FOR THE QUARTER'S PRICE:
10.00
IS
10.00 CORRECT?
(Y/N)
Y
PERFORMANCE REPORT FOR QUARTER #1
PRICE CHARGED DURING QUARTER ($)
ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE ($)
SALES BUDGET (UNITS)
ACTUAL SALES PLUS UNFILLED ORDERS
UNFILLED ORDERS (UNITS)
BUDGET VARIANCE (UNITS
)
(UNITS)....
10.00
14000
25000
27000
2000
2000
Date Due
Up'
JANl6'33r
'
MAR 05
1985
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