Exam 7: Creating a Flexible Organization

The human resource manager of one of Hershey Foods' production facilities has been noticing an increase in absenteeism among assembly-line workers in the chocolate bar plant.Switching to a job rotation system would probably significantly decrease the amount of absenteeism.

A line management position is created to provide support, advice, and expertise to someone who is in the chain of command.

Which of the following would most likely be a staff management position?

A locally owned and operated bakery is likely to have

Ted Landry finds he has less and less energy to go to work each day.On average he misses two days a week.Ted may be suffering from boredom, which is one negative side effect of job _____.

Ann delegated work to an employee who mismanaged public funds.Ann, rather than the employee, was reprimanded for this mismanagement.Ann is now reluctant to delegate because she

The book, The Wealth of Nations, published in the eighteenth century, emphasizes the power of _____.

Target has several layers of management in between the entry-level management position and CEO.This implies that the span of management for each manager is relatively narrow and the organizational height of Target is tall.

A disadvantage of the matrix structure is that

Ford and Xerox are two companies that have begun moving away from strict job specialization to alleviate employee motivation problems.Each company has adopted a job design alternative that involves workers in a wider variety of tasks.The method they have employed is known as job _____.

The span of control is the number of subordinates who report directly to one manager.

There are six steps involved in the task of organizing a firm's structure.

Boss Queen, Inc.(BQI) Boss Queen, Inc.(BQI) is a business-clothing store for professional women.The owner of the company has designed the business in such a way that she hardly ever has to be there.There are many departmental managers who hold a lot of responsibility.While they are organized separately by department, each manager knows enough about the other departments to be able to fill in at any time.The department managers also delegate a lot of work further down to their employees as a way to empower them.The owner even delegates store-management responsibilities to a different department manager each month.Even though certain people are delegated certain tasks, everyone pitches in, so it is sometimes hard to tell who is really in charge. The employees are so comfortable with each other that many go out and participate in activities together on the weekends, even when they are not working.However, the owner realizes that she does not want to participate in these events because she does not want to seem that she is favoring certain people over others. -Refer to Boss Queen, Inc.The group of employees that participate in outside activities on the weekend would be considered a(n) ____ group.

Define an organization.Relate that definition to a local eating establishment by showing how this organization fits the definition.

A person who takes responsibility for pushing an innovative idea, product, or process through the organization is called an _____.

An automatic window motor manufacturer is negotiating a complicated contract with Daimler Chrysler.The motor manufacturer appoints Richard to coordinate the activities for this process.Richard's role is a(n) _____.

Another term used to refer to a formal organization's network of communication is grapevine.

Thomas is a public affairs director for 3M.He holds a(n) ____ position in the company.

All of the following are reasons for a narrow span of management except

A highly centralized organization usually means that lower-level employees have the opportunity to make decisions regarding the best way to accomplish their assigned tasks.