Question 1

Organizations following a(n) ________ strategy try to both minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit, moving into new products or new markets only after innovators have proven their viability.

Accepted Answer

C) Organizations following an imitation strategy try to both minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit, moving into new products or new markets only after innovators have proven their viability.

Question 2

Matthew is a new divisional manager. In reorganizing his division, he must make some decisions regarding the span of control for management within his division.
-The question of span of control determines ________.

Accepted Answer

B) The number of employees a manager can efficiently and effectively direct refers to the span of control. It is important because it largely determines the number of levels and managers an organization has. All things being equal, the wider or larger the span, the more efficient the organization.

Question 3

A(n) ________ strategy emphasizes the introduction of major new products and services.

Accepted Answer

A) The degree to which an organization introduces major new products or services is the innovation strategy. This strategy strives to achieve meaningful and unique innovations. Innovation strategy emphasizes the introduction of major new products and services.

Question 4

The ________ of an environment refers to the degree of heterogeneity and concentration among environmental elements.

Accepted Answer

C) Any organization's environment has three dimensions: capacity, volatility, and complexity. Capacity refers to the degree to which the environment can support growth. Volatility describes the degree of instability in the environment. Complexity is the degree of heterogeneity and concentration among environmental elements.

Question 5

Which of the following is not a strategy to reduce the negative impact of downsizing?

Accepted Answer

D) Companies can reduce negative impacts by preparing for the post-downsizing environment in advance. Focusing on core competencies are more effective when companies invest in high-involvement work practices afterward. When employers make efforts to discuss downsizing with employees early, employees are less worried about the outcomes. Employees worry less if they can participate in the process in some way. Removal of vertical boundaries is not related to reducing the negative impact of downsizing.

Question 6

Volatility refers to the degree of ________ within an environment.

Accepted Answer

B) Any organization's environment has three dimensions: capacity, volatility, and complexity. Capacity refers to the degree to which the environment can support growth. Volatility describes the degree of instability in the environment. Complexity is the degree of heterogeneity and concentration among environmental elements.

Question 7

________ is a systematic effort to make an organization leaner by selling off business units, closing locations, or reducing staff.

Accepted Answer

D) The goal of the new organizational forms is to improve agility by creating a lean, focused, and flexible organization. Companies may need to cut divisions that aren't adding value. Downsizing is a systematic effort to make an organization leaner by selling off business units, closing locations, or reducing staff.

Question 8

Which of the following is typically a characteristic of the mechanistic model of organization?

Accepted Answer

B) The mechanistic model of organization has high specialization, rigid departmentalization, narrow spans of control, centralized management, and high formalization.

Question 9

Some individuals want work that makes minimal intellectual demands and provides the security of routine; for them, ________ is a source of job satisfaction.

Accepted Answer

D) Some individuals want work that makes minimal intellectual demands and provides the security of routine; for them, high work specialization is a source of job satisfaction. Free flow of information, wide span of control, low formalization, and high decentralization are suitable for complex jobs that need high intellectual capabilities and are performed under uncertain environments.

Question 10

Matthew is a new divisional manager. In reorganizing his division, he must make some decisions regarding the span of control for management within his division.
-While observing the departments in his division, Matthew notices that some managers with wide spans of control seem to perform more effectively than other managers with similarly sized spans of control. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding the high-performing managers?

Accepted Answer

E) To ensure performance doesn't suffer because of these wider spans, organizations have to invest heavily in employee training. Managers recognize they can handle a wider span when employees know their jobs inside and out or can turn to co-workers when they have questions.

Question 11

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure.
-The Acme Products case study notes that the senior management at Acme is concerned because the company takes so long to bring new products to the market. Which of the following approaches would your trainees identify as the most likely solution to resolve this problem?

Accepted Answer

B) Decentralized decision making is pushed down to the managers closest to the action. Management efforts to make organizations more flexible and responsive have produced a recent trend toward decentralized decision making by lower-level managers, who are closer to the action and typically have more detailed knowledge about problems than top managers. Acme needs to decentralize its organizational hierarchy for more flexibility.

Question 12

Which of the following dimensions of an environment describes the degree to which the environment can support growth?

Accepted Answer

A) Any organization's environment has three dimensions: capacity, volatility, and complexity. Capacity refers to the degree to which the environment can support growth. Volatility describes the degree of instability in the environment. Complexity is the degree of heterogeneity and concentration among environmental elements.

Question 13

Which of the following is typically a characteristic of the organic model of organization?

Accepted Answer

C) The organic model of organization has cross-hierarchical teams, wide spans of control, decentralized management, low formalization, and free flow of information.

Question 14

Any organization's environment has three dimensions. Identify these dimensions.

Accepted Answer

B) Any organization's environment has three dimensions: capacity, volatility, and complexity. Capacity refers to the degree to which the environment can support growth. Volatility describes the degree of instability in the environment. Complexity is the degree of heterogeneity and concentration among environmental elements.

Question 15

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure.
-Your trainees are given a case study concerning a local manufacturing firm called Acme Products. In assessing Acme's organizational structure, your trainees notice that all of the company's decisions are made by top management, with little or no input from lower-level personnel. The trainees most likely identify Acme as a(n) ________ organization.

Accepted Answer

D) Centralization refers to the degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organization. In centralized organizations, top managers make all the decisions, and lower-level managers merely carry out their directives. Acme is highly centralized.

Question 16

Which of the following is not part of an organization's environment?

Accepted Answer

C) An organization's environment includes outside institutions or forces that can affect its performance, such as suppliers, customers, competitors, government regulatory agencies, and public pressure groups. Personnel is not an outside institution. Employees are an integral part of the organization.

Question 17

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure.
-One of the questions you tell the trainees to ask is, "To what degree are tasks subdivided into separate jobs?" This question addresses the issue of ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Work specialization is the degree to which tasks in an organization are subdivided into separate jobs.

Question 18

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure.
-________ is addressed by asking the question, "On what basis are jobs grouped together?"

Accepted Answer

A) Once jobs are divided through work specialization, they must be grouped so common tasks can be coordinated. The basis by which jobs are grouped is called departmentalization.

Question 19

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure.
-You instruct the trainees to ask the client organization if they have clearly defined procedures covering most of the jobs in the organization and lots of rules and policies. You want to help them understand the ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Formalization refers to the degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized. There are explicit job descriptions, lots of organizational rules, and clearly defined procedures covering work processes in organizations in which there is high formalization.

Question 20

Work specialization contributes to higher employee productivity-but at the price of ________.

Accepted Answer

C) Evidence indicates that work specialization contributes to higher employee productivity-but at the price of reduced job satisfaction.

Quiz 15: Foundations of Organizational Structure