Exam 16: Organizational Design and Structure

A function is a group of people working together who possess similar skills or use the same kind of knowledge, tools, or techniques to perform their jobs.

There are four middle managers at a company. Lucille has been working at the company for ten years and is in charge of ten employees. Dan has worked at the company for five years and oversees six employees. Elaine has worked at the company for two years and oversees twelve employees. Greg has only worked at the company for a year and oversees nine employees. Who has the greatest span of control?

Since each organization faces a different set of contingencies, there is no "one best way" to design an organization.

All of the following are possible coordination advantages offered by a divisional structure EXCEPT ________.

The major disadvantages of a divisional structure include increased operating costs, higher potential for communication problems, and internal competition between divisions for resources.

The term "span of control" refers to the number of subordinates who report directly to a manager.

Mass-production technology is based primarily on the use of automated machines that are programmed to perform the same basic operations time and time again.

________ is the use of rules and SOPs to control an organization's activities.

Mass-production technology is almost totally mechanized.

In a ________, managers group people and resources simultaneously by function and by product.

________ is the power vested in a manager to make decisions and use resources to achieve organizational goals by virtue of his or her position in an organization.

Members of cross-functional teams are full-time members of different functions or divisions and report to the leader of the team.

Information technology (IT) has little effect on a company's organizational design and structure.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of decentralizing decision-making authority in an organization?

A divisional structure facilitates communication between functions and can improve decision making, thereby increasing performance.

In environments like those surrounding high-tech industries, companies are more likely to prefer a high level of centralization.

Because the purchases of retail customers can vary dramatically by region, large retailers like Macy's and Neiman Marcus use a ________ to give them the flexibility they need to choose the range of products best suited to their customers.

In order to deliver products in a way that best meets the needs of customers, an organization is likely to choose a market structure.

In a mechanistic structure decision-making authority is distributed throughout the organization as employees are empowered to make decisions.

Small-batch technology is used when a customer wants a large quantity of a certain product delivered a few items at a time.