In a short essay, explain how managers determine what a significant deviation is
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: Significant deviations from an acceptable range of variance are entirely up to the manager, him- or herself to determine. In some cases, goals may be technically met, but a manager will still feel that some kind of corrective action needs to be taken.
A manager of a gelato store, for example, might look at monthly sales totals and see that hazelnut gelato performed well below its goal. The manager might greet this finding in more than one way. She might decide to terminate the sale of this flavor and move on to develop a new flavor. She might decide that hazelnut simply needs more time and exposure to the public and its sales will pick up, eliciting a "sit tight" and do nothing response. Or, she might decide that hazelnut simply needs some extra promotion to increase sales–posters, free samples, special prices, etc.
The point of the preceding shows that the interpretation of performance data lies entirely in the eye of the manager who is observing it. One person's acceptable deviation might be another person's unacceptable deviation.
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Brak purchased a $25,000 life insurance policy from INSCO on January 1. After failing his introductory insurance class, he committed suicide on December 15 of the same year
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