Exam 9: Organization Size, Life Cycle, and Decline

Communicating more, not less, providing assistance to displaced workers, and help the survivors thrive are three ways for organizations to deal with downsizing.

Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large at Inc.magazine, believes that leaders of "small giants" ought to be intimately connected with the community in which they do business.

In a large company going through the organizational life cycle, the replacement of top management may occur in its elaboration stage as it struggles to revitalize.

Small organizations are characterized by all of the following except

Explain the relationship between organizational size and at least three specific structural characteristics.

In contrast to large businesses, small business is characterized by:

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses represent around _____ percent of all firms in the United States.

Why would a large organization tend to be more formalized?

All of the following are factors that cause organizational decline except:

Government organizations often seem to be more bureaucratic than for-profit organizations such as the Ansel Adams Gallery, a family business that markets beautiful photography of the Sierras. Could this partly be the result of the type of control used in the respective organizations? Explain.

How should personnel ratios be managed in a small firm?

A form of organization called ____ has emerged that is made up completely of professionals.

Departments emerge and are established, along with a beginning division of labor, in a newly established hierarchy at which stage in the life cycle?

Some warning signs for organizational _____ include excess administrative and support staff, cumbersome administrative procedures, lack of effective communication and coordination, and outdated organizational structure.

Small organizations have a flat structure and an organic, free-flowing management style that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

The life cycle phenomenon is a powerful concept used for understanding problems facing organizations and how managers can respond in a positive way to move an organization to the next stage.

More than one type of authority may exist in organizations, but ____ authority is the most widely used form to govern internal work activities and decision making, particularly in large organizations.

In the ____ stage, denial occurs despite signs of deteriorating performance.

Which of the following is not one of the organizational control strategies?

It is impossible for companies to find ways to be both big and small.