Exam 15: Organizational Structure

There are trade-offs when organizations make jobs highly specialized.

Splash Hair Care Inc. is growing very fast in both sales and number of employees. It manufactures and sells hair products for youth, male, female, elderly, and ethnic populations all over the United States and several other countries. So far, the company has followed a simple structure. However, with fast-paced growth, it has become a necessity that the company explore other organizational structures. John, a long-time employee at Splash Hair Care, has collected information on how some of its competitors have organized their companies. Streaks Inc. groups its employees by their different areas of expertise such as Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and Operations. Pure Oil, primarily in the United States, groups its activities as Northeast Division, Southeast Division, Northwest Division, Southwest Division, and Central Division. Curlz Inc. has organized its employees according to the accounts they serve, such as Large Company contracts, Internet Sales, Individual Sales, and Small Salon Direct Sales. Finally, Color Lite International has grouped its business units around popular colors such as Red Division, Silver Division, Rainbow Division, Black and Brown Division, and Shades of Blonde Division. Which of the following describes Pure Oil's organizational structure?

When Springfield Motor Company groups its business units around the different lines of cars such as the Aardvark, Bearcat, and Cyclops, which of the following structures is it creating?

Which of the following statements about companies that adopt a low-cost producer strategy is True?

State at least two advantages and disadvantages of work specialization.

The degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs refers to:

Which of the following refers to the degree to which rules and procedures are used to standardize behaviors and decisions in an organization?

As companies grow larger, their organizational charts get simpler.

Organizational restructuring has a moderate negative effect on organizational commitment.

Restructuring efforts typically enhance employees' trust in the organization.

The most basic bureaucratic structure is the _____ structure.

Tom is the project manager of the Organizational Development team at Extreme Rugs. Tom's team has been assigned the task of studying and evaluating Extreme Rugs' organizational structure. Tom divided the tasks among the team members to collect preliminary information on different elements of Extreme Rugs' structure. Jeremy was asked to collect information on the degree to which tasks are divided into separate jobs. Joy was asked to collect information on formal authority relationships. Alice started looking into how many employees each manager has responsibility for, and Kathy was asked to collect evidence on the degree to which rules and procedures are used to standardize behaviors at Extreme Rugs. Tom himself decided to collect information and evidence on where exactly decisions are formally made at Extreme Rugs. The team decided to meet with information in two weeks. On which element of organizational structure was Kathy asked to collect evidence?

Organizations that do not proactively develop designs may be forced to change their structure to become more effective.

What is the primary reason for simple structures being perhaps the most common form of organizational design?

Which of the following shows every job in the organization and the formal reporting relationships between those jobs?

A simple structure makes perfect sense for a large organization, with one person as the central decision-making person.

A bureaucratic structure is an organizational form that exhibits many of the facets of the _____ organization.

Which of the following is the main reason behind many organizations flattening their organizations?

Briefly describe the factors that influence the process of organizational design.

Define matrix structure. Identify one strength and one weakness of such a structure from an employee's viewpoint.