Deck 16: Organizational Goals and Structures

Question 1

Decisions regarding what to accomplish must be matched with decisions on an appropriate way to organize in reaching these goals.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Although an organization may have a primary beneficiary,its mission statement may also recognize the interests of many other parties.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Different parts of the organization are often asked to pursue different types of systems goals.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

By selecting goals,firms also select who they are and what they will try to become.

Question 5

A good mission statement says whom the firm will serve and how it will go about accomplishing its societal purpose.

Question 6

Societal goals reflect the intended contributions of an organization to the broader society.

Question 7

In a very practical sense,systems goals represent short-term organizational characteristics that higher-level managers wish to promote.

Question 8

For many organizations,systems goals include growth,productivity,stability,flexibility,prestige,and human resource maintenance.

Question 9

Systems goals are important to firms because they provide a road map that helps them link together various units of their organization to assure survival.

Question 10

By contributing to the larger society,organizations gain legitimacy and a social right to operate,but not more discretion for their nonsocietal goals and operating practices.

Question 11

Mission statements are written statements of organizational purpose,which may include corporate ideas of service to society.

Question 12

The survival rate for public organizations is much better than privately owned businesses.

Question 13

Organizations that can more effectively translate the positive character of their societal contribution into a favorable image have a disadvantage relative to firms that neglect the societal sense of purpose.

Question 14

Organizations do not operate in a social vacuum,but rather they reflect the needs and desires of the societies in which they operate.

Question 15

In the United States and Japan,it is generally expected that the primary beneficiary of business firms is the stockholder.

Question 16

Output goals define the type of business an organization is in and provide additional substance to the more general aspects of mission statements.

Question 17

The relative importance of systems goals is fairly similar across different organizations.

Question 18

The notion that organizations have goals is very familiar simply because our world is one comprised of organizations.

Question 19

Output goals are concerned with conditions within the organization that are expected to increase its survival potential.

Question 20

The choice of goals involves the type of contribution the firm makes to the larger society and the types of outputs it seeks.

Question 21

Vertical specialization is a hierarchical division of labor that distributes formal authority and establishes where and how critical decisions are made.

Question 22

An important distinction between line and staff units concerns the amount and types of contacts each maintains with outsiders to the organization.

Question 23

The accounting and public relations functions of a firm are examples of line units.

Question 24

Organization charts can be important to the extent that they accurately represent the "chain of command."

Question 25

Internal staff units assist line units,but the focus of their actions is on linking the firm to the environment and buffering internal operations.

Question 26

One useful distinction between line and staff units is the nature of a unit's relationship in the chain of command.

Question 27

Staff units are groups that assist the line units by providing specialized expertise and services to the organization.

Question 28

Executives,managers,and supervisors are hierarchically connected through the chain of command,which is a listing of who reports to whom up and down the firm.

Question 29

New information technologies enable organizations to broaden the span of control,flatten their formal structures,and still maintain control of complex operations.

Question 30

External line units focus on transforming raw materials and information into products and services.

Question 31

The formal structure outlines the planned configuration of positions,job duties,and the lines of authority among different parts of the organization.

Question 32

The hierarchy of authority refers to an arrangement of work positions in order of increasing authority.

Question 33

The number of individuals reporting to a supervisor is called the span of control.

Question 34

Production and marketing are examples of staff units.

Question 35

The number of individuals reporting to a supervisor is called the chain of command

Question 36

While an organization chart may clearly indicate who reports to whom,it is also important to recognize that it does not show how work is done,who exercises the most power over specific issues,or how the firm will respond to its environment.

Question 37

Wider spans of control are expected when tasks are complex,when subordinates are inexperienced or poorly trained,or when tasks call for team effort.

Question 38

One of the foremost trends in management involves using information technology to streamline operations and reduce staff in order to lower costs and raise productivity.

Question 39

Organization charts are diagrams that depict the formal structures of organizations.

Question 40

Line units provide specialized expertise and services to the organization.

Question 41

Policies,which are more specific,rigid,and impersonal than procedures,typically describe in detail how a task or a series of tasks is to be performed,or they indicate what cannot be done.

Question 42

Most modern organizations use output controls as part of an overall method of managing by exception.

Question 43

Decentralization increases when the discretion to spend money,to hire people,and to make similar decisions is moved farther up the hierarchy of authority.

Question 44

Horizontal specialization is often referred to as the process of departmentation.

Question 45

Centralization is the degree to which the authority to make decisions is restricted to higher levels of management.

Question 46

Procedures indicate the best method for performing a task,show which aspects of a task are the most important,or outline how an individual is to be rewarded.

Question 47

A procedure is a guideline for action that outlines important objectives and broadly indicates how an activity is to be performed.

Question 48

Governmental agencies have found that increasing decentralization helps them effectively explore innovations.

Question 49

Beyond substituting for direct management supervision,formalization is often used to simplify jobs.

Question 50

Process controls include policies,procedures,and rules; formalization and standardization; and total quality management controls.

Question 51

Policies,rules,and procedures are often employed as substitutes for direct supervision.

Question 52

Standardization involves the creation of guidelines so that similar work activities are repeatedly performed in a similar fashion.

Question 53

Output controls are popular because they promote flexibility and creativity as well as facilitate dialogue concerning corrective action.

Question 54

Process controls are controls that attempt to specify the manner in which tasks are accomplished.

Question 55

Standardization is the degree to which the range of allowable actions in a job or series of jobs is limited so that actions are performed in a uniform manner.

Question 56

Process controls focus on desired targets and allow managers to use their own methods for reaching defined targets.

Question 57

Control is the set of mechanisms used to keep actions or outputs within predetermined limits.

Question 58

Vertical specialization is a division of labor through the formation of work units or groups within an organization.

Question 59

Total quality management is a method for instituting process controls within an organization.

Question 60

Functional departmentation refers to the grouping of individuals by skill,knowledge,and action.

Question 61

__________ goals are concerned with the conditions within the organization that are expected to increase the organization's survival potential.

A)Output
B)Systems
C)Institutional
D)Functional
E)Statutory

Question 62

The __________ refers to the particular group toward which an organization targets its societal contributions.

A)social target
B)contribution account
C)primary beneficiary
D)secondary beneficiary
E)tertiary beneficiary

Question 63

__________ goals define the type of business an organization is in and provide additional substance to the more general aspects of mission statements.

A)Systems
B)Proprietary
C)Statutory
D)Intrinsic
E)Output

Question 64

Special project teams,coordinating committees,and task forces cannot form the beginnings of a matrix.

Question 65

Historically,fewer than 10 percent of the privately owned businesses founded in a typical year can be expected to survive to their __________ birthday.

A)tenth
B)twentieth
C)thirtieth
D)fortieth
E)fiftieth

Question 66

All of the following statements about systems goals are correct EXCEPT:

A)in a very practical sense,systems goals represent short-term organizational characteristics that higher-level managers wish to promote.
B)systems goals must often be balanced against one another.
C)the relative importance of different systems goals can vary substantially across various types of organizations.
D)systems goals are important to firms because they provide a road map that helps them link together various units of their organization to assure survival.
E)accurately stated systems goals lock managers into a particular course of action.

Question 67

A matrix structure has the disadvantages of being very expensive,losing unity of command,causing overlapping managerial authority and responsibilities,and being difficult to explain to employees.

Question 68

__________ statements are written statements of organizational purpose,which may include corporate ideas of service to society.

A)Resolution
B)Mission
C)Mindful
D)Determination
E)Employee

Question 69

While __________ may clearly indicate who reports to whom,it is also important to recognize that they do not show how work is done,who exercises the most power over specific issues,or how the firm will respond to its environment.

A)institutional pictures
B)hierarchical rosters
C)institutional trees
D)organization charts
E)graphic organizational representations

Question 70

Traditionally,the formal structure of the firm has also been called the __________.

A)matrix department
B)horizontal groups
C)vertical groups
D)division of labor
E)line unit

Question 71

Divisional departmentation is often used to meet diverse external threats and opportunities.

Question 72

By claiming to provide specific types of __________,an organization can make legitimate claims over resources,individuals,markets,and products.

A)governmental contributions
B)public contributions
C)political contributions
D)societal contributions
E)collective contributions

Question 73

Although an organization may have a __________,its mission statement may also recognize the interests of many other parties.

A)social target
B)contribution account
C)primary beneficiary
D)secondary beneficiary
E)tertiary beneficiary

Question 74

Examples of __________ goals include growth,productivity,stability,harmony,flexibility,prestige,and human resource maintenance.

A)output
B)input
C)performance
D)systems
E)statutory

Question 75

Coordination is the set of mechanisms used in an organization to link the actions of its units into a consistent pattern.

Question 76

Executives,managers,and supervisors are hierarchically connected through the __________,which is a listing of who reports to whom up and down the firm.

A)organizational human resources plan
B)span of control
C)functional master plan
D)chain of command
E)hierarchical regiment

Question 77

Organizations that rely heavily on functional specialization may expect the following tendencies to emerge over time: an emphasis on quality from a technical standpoint,rigidity to change,and difficulty in coordinating the actions of different functional areas.

Question 78

Matrix structures originated from the aerospace industry.

Question 79

__________ creates a hierarchy of authority-an arrangement of work positions in order of increasing authority.

A)Organizational dispersion
B)Hierarchical differentiation
C)Vertical specialization
D)Perpendicular regimentation
E)Functional regimentation

Question 80

In the United States,it is generally expected that the primary beneficiary of business firms is the __________.

A)stockholder
B)supplier
C)rank-and-file employee
D)top management team
E)external stakeholder