Exam 4: Asection 5: Global Forces: How Is Canada Faring in the Global Village

There is research evidence indicating that organizations that engaged in an employee downsizing (that is, terminated at least 5% of the workforce combined with little change in plant and equipment costs) did not outperform other organizations in their industry

If there is any consistent pattern in the sweeping changes to corporate architecture, it has been the delayering of organizational hierarchies.

A narrow span of control tends to reflect a tall organization, while a wide span of control tends to reflect a flat organization.

Frederick Taylor's philosophy of scientific management advocated a high degree of job specialization

Organizations can become more "virtual" by shedding some of their noncore functions and outsourcing these to affiliated organizations

Learning forces are pressure for organizations to imitate the behaviours of industry leaders.

The open-systems approach to understanding organizations is based on the metaphor of the organization as a living organism.

Routine technologies are better suited to innovative, organic structures that do not allow formality and rules to govern activity.

Social specialization refers to the division of jobs into simple, repetitive tasks.

Reengineering is essentially the same notion as downsizing.