Exam 8: Structuring Organizations for Todays Challenges

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.

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

The Internet makes "real time" availability of data possible.

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

Outsourcing involves assigning various functions to outside organizations.

As Bret prepares to open his new business, he has identified the tasks that need to be accomplished and has assigned employees to each task. This illustrates a:

Introducing change into an organization is an easy task for a manager.

Buzzoff Corporation is a medium sized organization, organized with well-defined lines of authority and responsibility. Each employee reports to only one boss. The managers at Buzzoff complain that they have no expert support staff available to offer legal advice. Lately opportunities are slipping through the cracks due to inefficient long lines of communication. These characteristics suggest that Buzzoff employs a matrix organization.

Reorganizing in order to compete better may require a business to reduce its labor force.

Jason is a self-employed patent attorney. These days he is seldom without work. Large corporations hire him on an as-need basis to review prospective ideas and help with securing patents for a variety of inventions including surgical instruments, medicines, and high tech gadgets. Once he secures a contract, he knows approximately how many weeks or months he will work. Jason works for virtual corporations.

Businesses seldom create separate departments to serve customers with different needs.

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

The decision on how to departmentalize should depend on the customer and the product or service the firm is offering.

A recent trend in organization models is the development of cross-functional, self-managed teams of employees who work together on a long-term basis.

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

Flat organizations have fewer managers.

Within its production department, Sooner Manufacturing has shift leaders, supervisors, assistant plant managers, plant managers, product group managers, assistant division managers, division managers, an assistant vice president for production, and a vice president in charge of production. Given its multiple layer management structure, Sooner Manufacturing is an example of a(n) organization.

When Eric Schmidt joined Google™, one of the most successful companies of this decade, he tackled the organization function head-on. In speaking at a large conference with Google founders, Sergey Brinn and Larry Page, he commented that Google was running pretty well, "it just needed a little structure." Schmidt was referring to basic organization principles such as division of labor, specialization, and getting the departments up and running.

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.

Rapid Response Security Firm, a company that provides on-site security services for malls and other retail environments needs to review current procedures used by their professional officers to make certain they are in compliance with new laws. On crucial issues such as this, it is more important to gather information through the informal organization, as opposed to the formal organization.