Deck 16: Organizational Design and Structure

Question 1

A clearly defined hierarchy of authority and an extensive body of rules and regulations are most appropriate in a stable business environment.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Task analyzability is the number of new or unexpected problems or situations that a person or functional group encounters while performing tasks or jobs.

Answer 2

False
Task analyzability is the degree to which programmed solutions are available to people or functional groups to solve the problems they encounter.

Question 3

Organizations using mass-production technology MOST OFTEN prefer a formal organizational structure.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Highly skilled employees usually desire conformity and like close supervision.

Question 5

Since each organization faces a different set of contingencies, there is no "one best way" to design an organization.

Question 6

Organizational design is the formal system of task and reporting relationships that controls, coordinates, and motivates employees so that they cooperate and work together to achieve an organization's goals.

Question 7

Nonroutine or complicated technologies are characterized by low task variety and high task analyzability.

Question 8

The ability to respond quickly to unexpected events that could have catastrophic effects is most important to organizations using continuous process technology.

Question 9

The best design is one that fits the organization's specific situation.

Question 10

When the organizational environment lacks stability, organizations are more likely to decentralize authority and empower employees to make important operating decisions.

Question 11

Knowledge management uses IT to integrate and share expertise within and between functional groups and divisions in real time.

Question 12

Small-batch technology is used when a customer wants a large quantity of a certain product delivered a few items at a time.

Question 13

A decentralized structure is appropriate with small-batch technology.

Question 14

If the environment is stable, an organization is more likely to decentralize authority and empower its employees to make important operating decisions.

Question 15

In general, the more highly skilled an organization's work force, the more people are required to work together in groups or teams to perform their tasks.

Question 16

Organizing is the process of establishing the structure of working relationships among employees, in order to allow them to achieve organizational goals effectively.

Question 17

Mass-production technology is based primarily on the use of automated machines that are programmed to perform the same basic operations time and time again.

Question 18

In typical mass-production or assembly operations, employees perform the same tasks repeatedly; moreover, the programmed solutions needed to perform a task efficiently have been identified and refined.

Question 19

Mass-production technology is almost totally mechanized.

Question 20

When routine technologies are used in a workplace setting, the problems encountered do not vary much and are easily resolved through programmed decision making.

Question 21

A division is a group of workers who perform general operational functions.

Question 22

A function is a group of people working together who possess similar skills or use the same kind of knowledge, tools, or techniques to perform their jobs.

Question 23

A divisional structure facilitates communication between functions and can improve decision making, thereby increasing performance.

Question 24

A regional marketing structure allows organizations to customize products to meet the needs of customers in different world regions.

Question 25

The responsibility of corporate managers is to supervise and oversee the managers of the various divisions.

Question 26

Regardless of size, all organizations group their activities into divisional modules.

Question 27

A geographic structure can be used to deal with the different issues facing different regions.

Question 28

Supervisors in functional structures find monitoring easy because they usually possess high levels of skill in the particular function.

Question 29

In a mechanistic structure decision-making authority is distributed throughout the organization as employees are empowered to make decisions.

Question 30

As an organization grows, and its activities become more diverse and complex, a functional structure may no longer allow it to coordinate its activities effectively.

Question 31

When an organization chooses to group people and functions so that it can produce a wide variety of different products, it moves to a market structure.

Question 32

In order to deliver products in a way that best meets the needs of customers, an organization is likely to choose a market structure.

Question 33

A mechanistic structure is used to induce employees to behave in predictable, accountable ways.

Question 34

A functional structure is composed of all the job specializations that an organization requires to produce its goods or services.

Question 35

In a mechanistic structure, an extensive system of rules and regulations coordinates the activities of employees, thus making those activities orderly and predictable.

Question 36

Grouping by function improves an organization's ability to motivate employees.

Question 37

When Dell groups all employees who perform tasks related to assembling personal computers into the manufacturing function and all employees who handle Dell's telephone sales into the sales function, it is using functional structure.

Question 38

A functional grouping makes it easier for people to learn from one another's experiences.

Question 39

In a marketing structure, functions are grouped by types of customers so that each division contains the functions it needs to service a specific segment of the market.

Question 40

An organic structure is designed to promote flexibility so that employees can initiate change and adapt quickly to changing conditions.

Question 41

Employees in matrix-structure product teams are permanent members of two-boss teams.

Question 42

The hierarchy of authority exemplifies the relative authority that each manager has - extending from the CEO at the top down through the middle managers and first-line managers, to the nonmanagerial employees who actually make the goods or provide the services.

Question 43

The term "span of control" refers to the number of subordinates who report directly to a manager.

Question 44

Because of its complex network of reporting relationships among product teams and functions, the matrix structure is very flexible.

Question 45

If an organization operates in a stable environment using well-understood technology, then there is no pressing need to decentralize decision-making authority.

Question 46

The principle of the minimum chain of command states that an organization should operate with the fewest levels possible.

Question 47

In general, the larger and more complex an organization is, the taller is its hierarchy.

Question 48

Integrating mechanisms are tools used to increase communication and coordination among functions and divisions.

Question 49

In a flat organizational structure, managers are expected to make all of the decisions.

Question 50

Authority is the power vested in a manager to make decisions and use resources to achieve organizational goals by virtue of his or her position in an organization.

Question 51

In environments like those surrounding high-tech industries, companies are more likely to prefer a high level of centralization.

Question 52

Mutual adjustment is the ongoing communication among different people and functions that is necessary for an organization to achieve its goals.

Question 53

Matrix structures minimize role conflict and role ambiguity.

Question 54

In a matrix structure, managers group people and resources by function and by product.

Question 55

The taller an organization's hierarchy becomes, the easier it is to coordinate its hierarchical levels.

Question 56

Matrix structures are common in high-tech and biotechnology companies.

Question 57

Functional costs are the costs associated with managing an organization.

Question 58

Decentralizing authority allows an organization and its employees to behave in a flexible way, even as the organization grows.

Question 59

As the number of levels in an organization's hierarchy increases, the span of control of the organization's managers widens.

Question 60

The major disadvantages of a divisional structure include increased operating costs, higher potential for communication problems, and internal competition between divisions for resources.

Question 61

Specific targets and goals for measuring the performance of individuals and groups have little to no effect on the overall effectiveness of an organization.

Question 62

Because organizations recognize that direct contact is important, they often establish liaison roles giving specific functional managers the formal responsibility of communicating with managers in another function to solve common problems.

Question 63

Formalization drives up operating costs.

Question 64

The more an organization relies on formalization to specify required behaviors, the more it needs to use direct supervision from the hierarchy or mutual adjustment.

Question 65

The principal way in which organizations standardize behaviors is through rules and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Question 66

Output standards are an effective way to standardize behavior.

Question 67

Information technology (IT) promotes centralized decision making.

Question 68

Members of an ordinary team are full-time members of the same function or organization.

Question 69

Formalization is the use of rules and standard operating procedures to control an organization's activities.

Question 70

A task force disbands once it has solved its assigned problem.

Question 71

Members of cross-functional teams are full-time members of different functions or divisions and report to the leader of the team.

Question 72

A virtual organization does not require face-to-face interaction because employees are linked to centralized databases by computers, faxes, and videoconferencing.

Question 73

Information technology (IT) has little effect on a company's organizational design and structure.

Question 74

An organization can only standardize activities at the input stage.

Question 75

A team is a temporary (ad hoc) group set up to solve a specific problem; a task force is a permanent group made up of representatives from two or more functions.

Question 76

A high level of direct contact can lead to a give-and-take relationship that fosters cooperation between functions.

Question 77

Information technology (IT) increases communication and coordination and promotes mutual adjustment among teams, functions, and divisions.

Question 78

Organizations can develop performance programs to standardize their inputs, their conversion process, and their outputs.

Question 79

Standardization is the development of programmed responses, performance standards, written rules, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that specify how employees and functions should respond to recurring problems or opportunities.

Question 80

Increasingly, more global companies are recognizing that higher input standards result in higher-quality products.