Exam 15: Organizational Structure and Design

A key element that makes strategic alliances between U.S. and Chinese companies somewhat difficult is the strong cultural differences between the two countries.

A large company diversifies by adding an entirely unrelated business or product to its organizational design. The new business or product is owned by the acquiring company. This is an example of a:

The organizational design that is highly complex and has clear lines of authority within a formal environment would be an adhocracy.

Explain the benefits of low and high decentralization.

Describe the classical, neoclassical, and contingency approaches to organizational design.

Explain the three primary ways an organization can be structured, offering the advantages and disadvantages of each.

A matrix structure combines functional and product organizational strategies.

Table 15.4 Five organizations in your community are being studied using Mintzberg's perspective on organizational design. One is a high-tech organization with a simple structure, decentralized authority, and support staff is the dominant element in the organization. A second company operates in a stable industry, each employee's work is highly specialized, and decision-making is concentrated at the top of the organization. There is also a family medical practice with three doctors who are partners. The operating core is the dominant element, and decision-making is vested in the doctors. Finally, there is a retail dealer mall for antiques and collectibles, which is dominated by its strategic apex element. -Refer to Table 15.4 The high-tech company is an example of Mintzberg's:

Identify and discuss the five organizational forms of Mintzberg's framework.

Organizations structured along functional lines:

David is in charge of the marketing department, and he has been assigned to head up the new MOV VI Product-Development Team. David is a:

Table 15.1 As the new general manager of a regional cable service, Joe is studying the formal configuration of groups and individuals in respect to the allocation of tasks, responsibilities, and authority within the cable company. He notices that there are numerous layers of people between the cable installers and technicians and himself as general manager. He thinks this is because of the high degree of specialization in the company. Everyone seems to have very narrowly defined jobs. Joe decides he wants fewer layers of employees and for each manager to have responsibility for more employees. He reduces the number of managers from 10 to 3. As a consequence, each manager will make of his/her own decisions and rely less on Joe. -Refer to Table 15.1. The high degree of specialization Joe is seeing is a function of the company's:

A strategic alliance in which two similar companies pool resources to receive a benefit (too difficult or expensive for either to obtain alone) is called:

Which of the following is a reason why classical organizational theory has fallen into disfavor?

In organizations departmentalized by products, each self-contained division ________.

High centralization eliminates the additional responsibility not desired by people performing routine jobs.

When evaluating a manager's span of control, you should:

A joint venture is a form of organizational diversification that adds unrelated businesses to the core business.

The process of coordinating the structural elements of an organization into the most appropriate form is organizational design.

In a ________, employees report to both a product manager and a functional manager.