Exam 8: Structuring Organizations for Todays Challenges

Paper Trail Publishing Company is deliberating the use of cross-functional teams. In order to be most effective, Paper Trail should include customers as members of the teams.

Although a firm may experience better cost controls through departmentalization, it may not increase its responsiveness to customer needs.

A(n) ________ is used by an organization to show who is accountable for the completion of specific work and who reports to whom.

Baby Boomers are often referenced as digital natives.

Cash Now Industries just hired 500 new workers to build ATMs and self-service check-out systems at its manufacturing plant in Tennessee. The company also plans to hire several hundred more employees by 2021. In the past, these machines were built primarily in Asia. Both shipping costs and quality control were cited as the reasons these companies have elected to change production strategy to

Troy is a manager at a manufacturing company that creates commercial lighting fixtures. He thinks it is very important and less confusing if each worker has only one boss. Troy's view is consistent with Fayol's unity of command principle.

Yolklore Breakfast Cafes is a nationwide chain with locations all around the United States. Top management at Yolklore believes that customers in different regions have different tastes and that its cafes may face more intense competition in some regions than in others. Therefore, Yolklore's top management gives local managers the freedom to offer local flavors in addition to its traditional entrees, and the ability to decide on a reasonable pricing strategy for its meals. Yolklore typifies a decentralized organization.

Devin had worked for his company for several years and was considered to be a politically savvy employee. After earning several promotions, he became the new president of the company. Nina, a longtime colleague of Devin's, had reported to him back when he was a first-line supervisor. She understood how the human side of the organization worked and made certain that she maintained a direct line of communication with Devin. On the company's organization chart, Nina maintained a lower-level position; but, due to her open line of communication with Devin, she was able to successfully push her agenda. The human side of the organization is synonymous with the

One of Carlos's coworkers was recently promoted to a middle management position at their company. He seems to have quickly distanced himself from Carlos and their other coworker, Donovan. In fact, yesterday Donovan described the situation by saying, "He's gone to the dark side." Carlos understands what Donovan means because managers keep themselves removed from other employees, and seldom seriously solicit ideas for improvements or change from those in the trenches. The disadvantage in continuing this type of organizational culture is

The process of rating an organization's practices, processes, and products against the best of the world is known as

The virtual corporation does all its business online with partners considered a permanent part of the network.

Jarvis is a production engineer at Rubber Ring Tires. He recently joined a team of specialists from other departments in the business, such as marketing and finance. This long-term team assignment has developed several new products. Jarvis enjoys working in this environment, partly because Rubber Ring's management has given the team the freedom and flexibility to make decisions. Recently, outsiders from Freestone's major distributors and suppliers have been included on the team. It appears that Jarvis's team is a(n)

All organizations have two organizational systems,

Correctly structuring a business organization allows managers to avoid delegating responsibility and authority to employees.

Looking at a traditional organization chart, you will view who reports to whom; you will have a sense of each person's authority and responsibility, and the type of work that they perform for the organization.

Mohammed just started a managerial position at Abundance Bank. In order to be more effective in his new position, he should try to learn who the important people are in Abundance's informal organization.

Outsourcing has become commonplace, particularly when organizations want to focus on their core competencies.

If a particular function is one of a firm's core competencies, it typically performs this function itself rather than outsourcing it to another organization.

The team experts in a matrix organization remain part of the traditional line-and-staff structure.

Some business organizations still follow the 1940s organizational theory of Max Weber.