Exam 9: Organisational Structure and Design

Black Gold (Scenario) Jamal Oil Corporation (JOC) began as a relatively small oil company. However, through the years it has grown to become an international corporation. -To deal with the workload in an effective manner,JOC's executive management group assigns specialists from the different functional departments to work on one or more work groups that are led by project managers. This popular contemporary design is called a(n) ________ structure.

In large organizations, the team structure complements what is typically a ________ structure.

An organic organization tends to be characterized by high specialization, extensive departmentalization, narrow spans of control, high formalization, a limited information network, and little participation in decision making by low-level employees.

General Hospital (Scenario) Maha is a registered nurse in charge of a new unit at her hospital. She would like to have a more laid back approach in dealing with her new staff, but the hospital demands that there be strict hierarchical levels and that all decisions must be signed off by Maha. Sometimes this drives Maha crazy the constant filling out of forms, and so forth. She also feels that the numerous levels of hierarchy are unnecessary and place barriers between herself and her staff. She isn't sure why things have to be so "organized" and is thinking about speaking with her boss in an attempt to change her unit so that it has more flexibility and fewer rules. -Maha's unit specializes in cardiology cases. Dividing up work units in such a manner is most representative of ________ departmentalization.

The appropriate structure for an organization is based on four contingency variables: strategy, size, degree of environmental uncertainty, and ________.

When decisions tend to be made at lower levels in an organization, the organization is said to be decentralized.

Trends in the past few years have centered on a ________ span of control to reduce costs and speed decision making.

Lamia tells Masoud that studies have found that as environmental uncertainty increases, ________ designs tend to be most effective.

Ismail (Scenario) Ismail graduated from college and was hired by a corporation that manufactured parts for the automotive industry. The employees on the assembly line seemed bored, and their motivation was low. Ismail's employer decided to reorganize, in an attempt to increase productivity. -The jobs of assembly-line employees are to be changed to allow more tasks to be done by individual workers. This is a reduction in ________.

The strength of a ________ structure is based on results of managers, but it has a weakness because duplication can occur easily within the organization.

The greater the environmental uncertainty, the more an organization needs to become ________.

During his career, Ismail saw his job change from an engineering role to a more complex job assignment. Eventually, Ismail's department evolved to become an advanced structure in which Ismail continually worked on projects. This structure is known as a ________ structure.

A small business with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, centralized authority, and limited formalization can be said to possess a ________ structure.

Custom Leather (Scenario) Lamia has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Inc., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded over a decade ago with the idea that great looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stock leather sofas to satisfy the desire to receive new furniture fast limiting the choice of colors and style for the consumer. In stark contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in over 70 different colors from rich, deep browns to bright, sunflower; sleek, silver grays and bright, ruby red through a select group of retail outlets. Each piece is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within 2-3 weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled a few, traditionally mass-production competitors to offer greater customization, minimizing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather is considering sweeping changes to current work processes and organizational structure. -Masoud is considering doubling the size of his workforce in conjunction with expanding the number of retail outlets that carry Custom Leather products. Lamia tells him that he should expect the organization to become more ________ as a result of this change.

A learning organization has developed its ________.

Structure is related to the size of the organization, such that larger organizations tend to have ________ than smaller organizations.

Researchers have concluded that the structures and strategies of organizations worldwide are ________ and the behavior within them is ________.

The concept of centralization-decentralization is absolute.

Custom Leather (Scenario) Lamia has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Inc., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded over a decade ago with the idea that great looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stock leather sofas to satisfy the desire to receive new furniture fast limiting the choice of colors and style for the consumer. In stark contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in over 70 different colors from rich, deep browns to bright, sunflower; sleek, silver grays and bright, ruby red through a select group of retail outlets. Each piece is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within 2-3 weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled a few, traditionally mass-production competitors to offer greater customization, minimizing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather is considering sweeping changes to current work processes and organizational structure. -At their first meeting, Lamia provides copies of a collection of Joan Woodward's essays for Custom Leather's management to read. Lamia believes that Woodward's work may be particularly pertinent in considering Custom Leather's organizational structure, since Woodward believed that the effectiveness of the organization was related to the fit between the firm's ________.

Departmentalization based on ________ groups' jobs is based on the territory or physical location.