Exam 9: Organisational Structure and Design

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 was asked to represent her cardiac unit as part of a Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative that is aimed at improving the overall quality of care at the hospital. Other departments, such as Cardiology and ER, also have representatives on this team. The TQM team exemplifies ________.

As a type of technology, ________ centers on large-batch production and requires moderate levels of complexity and sophistication.

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. -Jamal decided to purchase an oil drilling supply company, located in a new country. The purchase of this company was classified as a related diversification, but distance and the new product line suggested that this newly purchased organization continued to be operated as a separate company. In beginning a new phase in the history of Jamal Oil Corporation, a ________ structure should be implemented to allow the company to continue to grow.

In a short essay, describe matrix and project structures. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these structures?

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 interested in learning more about the link between strategic decision making and organizational structure. Lamia suggested he read the research and writings of ________, which were based on studies of U.S. firms in the late 1950s and early 1960s and remain the most seminal study in this area.

What is an advantage of a team structure?

To minimize or eliminate boundaries, managers might use virtual or network structural designs.

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. -A sharp rise in oil prices helped JOC expand. Jamal concluded that it was impractical and inefficient for all decisions to continue flowing through his office. He granted his key subordinates the authority and responsibility to manage others within their areas of specialty. This organizational structure is best described as 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. -After reading Woodward's work at Lamia's suggestion, Custom Leather CEO, Masoud, asks her about other contingency factors that should be considered in optimally designing the firm's structure. Lamia responds that another contingency factor linked to structure is ________.

The inspiration of the virtual organization structural approach is the film industry.

Organizational design is based on decisions about ________.

The traditional view was that managers could not and should not directly supervise more than ________ subordinates.

A ________ design is not limited to horizontal, vertical, or external boundary imposed by a conventional structure.

Grouping jobs on the basis of product or customer flow is termed 'customer departmentalization'.

Organizational structure is the degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs.

An online Arabic sweets retailer that sells and ships sweets to customers all over the world and has a payroll of six employees, is likely to have which kind of organizational structure?

What kind of departmentalization would be in place in a government organization where different public service responsibilities are divided into activities for employers, children, and the disabled?

Project structures tend to be rigid and inflexible organizational designs.

In a short essay, describe a learning organization. What structural aspects does a learning organization need?

A ________ structure is an advanced version of the matrix organization, where employees continuously work on assignments that are oriented to completion of a task.