Deck 8: Structuring Organizations for Todays Challenges

Question 1

To better organize his landscaping business, Scott started to divide each job into several parts. One is excavation and removal of old landscaping, the next is design, followed by purchasing, and finally installation of new plants. If he assigns a different employee to each part, this action would be an example of departmentalization.

Answer 1

False
Explanation:Departmentalization is the creation of functional units of a business. The jobs described in this question would all fall under the production department. Other departments in Scott's business may include marketing, sales, and accounting. By asking different employees to perform different tasks relating to a particular job, Scott is creating division of labor within his company, and/or specialization.

Question 2

Small business organizations lack the size required to reap the benefits of labor specialization.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Corner Booksellers needs to reorganize its floor space. Management decided to reduce seating space in its stores in order to create room for new shelves to display the growing interest in books on clean eating. This company's effort is an example of how a firm may reduce its emphasis in one product line in order to serve customer preferences and trends.

Answer 3

True
Explanation:If a firm wants to remain competitive, it may reevaluate which product lines are more profitable than others and organize its floor space and marketing emphasis to capture consumer attention.

Question 4

In a capitalist economy, organizations seldom reorganize due to changing markets.

Question 5

The process of setting up individual departments to do specialized tasks is called job specialization.

Question 6

As indicated in the Making Ethical Decisions box, "Would You Sacrifice Safety for Profit?" organizational decisions that affect profits in a negative way should be avoided at all cost.

Question 7

Departments are functional units within the business such as sales, accounting, finance, and marketing.

Question 8

When Eric Schmidt joined Google he tackled the organization function head-on. In speaking at a large conference with its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, he commented that Google was running pretty well but "it just needed a little structure." Schmidt was referring to basic organization principles such as division of labor, specialization, and getting the departments running smoothly.

Question 9

Henri Fayol and Max Weber are best known for their contributions to accounting theory.

Question 10

Organizing the structure of the company means deciding what jobs need to be done and who is responsible for doing them.

Question 11

Division of labor refers to deciding how many jobs must be accomplished and then dividing them up amongst the labor force.

Question 12

The purpose of a division of labor and specialization is to improve an employee's job performance.

Question 13

The success of the firm often depends on assigning the right tasks to the right person.

Question 14

The driving force behind the change in business organizations is the change in consumer expectations.

Question 15

The process of creating individual departments to do specialized tasks is called departmentalization.

Question 16

One key to organizational success is to go back to basic principles and build the business on a sound foundation.

Question 17

Division of labor is difficult to achieve in small businesses.

Question 18

Managing a growing business often requires managers to create departments to accomplish various tasks.

Question 19

Correctly structuring a business organization allows managers to avoid delegating responsibility and authority to employees.

Question 20

Serena has long dreamed of opening her own restaurant. She, of course, knows that she will need to organize her business. Organizing begins with determining the work to be done.

Question 21

Job descriptions are an important part of Max Weber's organizational theory.

Question 22

Weber was critical of bureaucrats because he felt they undermined the efficiency of the organization.

Question 23

Max Weber's organizational theories require an educated workforce to operate efficiently.

Question 24

According to Fayol's principle of authority, if you have authority you also have responsibility.

Question 25

Some business organizations still follow the 1940s organizational theory of Max Weber.

Question 26

Fayol believed that managers should treat employees and peers with respect and justice.

Question 27

Max Weber's principles of organization were similar to those of Henri Fayol.

Question 28

Weber believed that employees should be empowered to make their own decisions.

Question 29

Fayol's principle of the division of labor says that functions should be divided into areas of specialization such as production, marketing, and finance.

Question 30

Fayol believed that the amount of decision-making power vested in top management should be the same in all situations.

Question 31

Weber promoted the idea of the pyramid-shaped organization structure for large businesses.

Question 32

Weber believed that large organizations required everyone to follow the established rules and guidelines precisely.

Question 33

Fayol's principles suggest that the goals of the firm are less important than the goals of individual workers.

Question 34

Max Weber believed that promotion should be based solely on seniority.

Question 35

Fayol's principle of esprit de corps says that employees should be divided into small groups that can be directed efficiently by a single manager.

Question 36

The design of a bureaucratic organization assumes a well-educated workforce.

Question 37

One of Fayol's principles suggests that managers should have the right to give orders and expect others to follow.

Question 38

Clear communication among workers and keeping order in materials and people are included in Fayol's principles.

Question 39

Weber had a great deal of faith in managers. He was confident that a firm would do well if employees simply did as they were told.

Question 40

Weber was a strong proponent of bureaucracy.

Question 41

A bureaucracy is an organization with many layers of managers who set rules and regulations and oversee all decisions.

Question 42

In today's fast-paced business environment, Weber's bureaucratic ideas work well. These principles permit business to respond quickly to customer changes.

Question 43

The purpose of Weber's and Fayol's principles was for the benefit of management, as opposed to pleasing customers.

Question 44

A bureaucratic style of organization is slow when responding to change.

Question 45

As organizations grew, the use of Fayol's principles led to rigid organizations that didn't always respond quickly to consumer requests.

Question 46

An organizational hierarchy establishes one person at the top of an organization.

Question 47

An organization chart shows who is accountable for the completion of specific work and who reports to whom.

Question 48

A hierarchy requires many top managers, but only a few middle managers.

Question 49

Bureaucratic organizations are not very responsive to customers.

Question 50

When we experience economies of scale, this means that as production levels rise (we make more of something), the cost of supplies and the cost of labor that go into the production go down.

Question 51

Weber put great trust in the creativity, skills, and pride of employees and believed that managers should act more as coaches than as bosses.

Question 52

A chain of command is a line of authority that moves from the lowest level of the hierarchy to the top.

Question 53

A bureaucracy is designed to be customer focused.

Question 54

A bureaucracy empowers employees to quickly respond to customers' wants and desires.

Question 55

Bureaucratic organizations establish rules and regulations that everyone is expected to follow.

Question 56

Bureaucratic organizations are structured to empower employees and please customers.

Question 57

The basic idea behind the organization design of Fayol and Weber was that management wanted to control workers.

Question 58

According to Weber, a bureaucrat is a middle manager whose job is to implement top management's orders.

Question 59

Empowerment works only when employees are given the proper training and resources to respond.

Question 60

Looking at a traditional organization chart, you will view who reports to whom; you will have a sense of each person's authority and responsibility, and the type of work that they perform for the organization.

Question 61

An advantage of decentralized authority is that those individuals closest to the customers and more familiar with local conditions make decisions.

Question 62

In firms with centralized authority, each business unit is treated as if it is a completely separate and independent organization.

Question 63

Cruz works in the marketing department of a large firm. This is an example of Fayol's division of labor concept.

Question 64

As a new employee in a bureaucratic organization, Madison can expect a great deal of independence and authority.

Question 65

Corleone Industries' chain of command moves from the top of the hierarchy down to lower-level managers. The company is organized by department with specific rules and regulations that everyone is expected to follow. These characteristics suggest that Corleone Industries is an example of a bureaucratic organization.

Question 66

In today's business environment, the trend is to decrease the span of control.

Question 67

As a result of rapidly changing markets and global differences in consumer tastes, more firms are considering centralized authority.

Question 68

Angelo, a middle manager at a nonprofit, spends much of his time developing ways to implement the ideas from top management. Max Weber would have considered Angelo a bureaucrat.

Question 69

Span of control refers to the number of different markets a business can serve efficiently.

Question 70

Daniela thinks all workers should receive the same pay regardless of their position within a company. Daniela views on wages illustrate Fayol's principle of equity.

Question 71

Dan was a team supervisor in a very large organization when the refrigerator in their lunchroom stopped functioning. He started the paperwork on the day it died, then the refrigerator request went out for bid. After that, two middle managers needed to approve acceptance of the bid and document their decision, and the purchasing director had final approval. The refrigerator arrived six months later. Max Weber would have approved of the decision process and its documentation at Dan's company to back up such a refrigerator purchase.

Question 72

A weakened corporate image is one of the disadvantages of a decentralized business organization.

Question 73

The degree to which an organization allows lower-level managers to make decisions reflects the degree of decentralization.

Question 74

A manager needs to be called to sign off on every return that a cashier performs at Sun and Fun Sportswear. The CEO continues this policy because he wants every manager to "look those customers right in the eye" and "stake their job on taking those items back." Clearly, Sun and Fun empowers its employees to make decisions at their jobs.

Question 75

Ainsley is a middle manager at a large, multinational corporation. She prefers to involve her subordinates in decision making and gives her workers a reasonable amount of flexibility in how they do their jobs. Ainsley's management approach illustrates the principles first popularized by Max Weber.

Question 76

Centralized authority provides for the delegation of authority to employees who are then better able to respond to customers' needs.

Question 77

The optimum number of subordinates a manager should supervise is referred to as the span of control.

Question 78

The more standardized the work, the wider the span of control.

Question 79

Most businesses adopt a bureaucratic organization in order to speed up their decision-making process.

Question 80

Troy is a manager at a manufacturing company that creates commercial lighting fixtures. He thinks it is very important and less confusing if each worker has only one boss. Troy's view is consistent with Fayol's unity of command principle.