Exam 8: Supervisory Principles for Organizing

Trish supervises a group of employees who are physically located in a different part of the United States than she is, whereas Roger, her colleague, supervises employees who are all headquartered in the same location that he is. Trish probably can:

What can a supervisor do to influence an informal organization?

Alina works at a company where she meets with a group to regularly set work-related tasks. Individuals within this group have considerable authority to make many of their own job-related decisions. Alina's company utilizes which of these?

A manager's organizing function consists of designing a structure, grouping activities, and assigning them to specific work units.

Numerous research studies have demonstrated that informal groups can influence employees to restrict production and work against supervisors.

All of the following are common methods by which an organization can create departments, EXCEPT:

Informal organizations do not exist in well-run companies.

Once the supervisor's span of management is established, it cannot be increased or decreased.

Line authority is the right to direct others and to require them to conform to decisions, policies, rules, and objectives.

Which organizational structure defies the unity of command principle? Why?

According to the unity-of-command principle, all supervisors should make decisions together so their orders are not contradictory.

Supervisors should resist the temptation to give more work to their more capable employees and less work to those who are not as skilled.

If the unity of command principle is followed:

Informal groups cannot satisfy the needs of their members. Only formal groups can.

First and foremost, supervisors should plan their organizational structure around employee personalities.

Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences the span of management?

Line authority provides:

The most frequent problem associated with the project management type organizational structure is direct accountability.

At K2X Industries, top management believe that having more than one boss usually leads to unsatisfactory performance by the employee due to confusion over who is in charge. As a result, all employees only report to one boss. This demonstrates which management principle?

What are some guidelines for effectively planning and leading a meeting?