Exam 15: Foundations of Organization Structure

Which of the following dimensions of an environment describes the degree to which the environment can support growth?

________ is a systematic effort to make an organization leaner by selling off business units, closing locations, or reducing staff.

The chain of command is an unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom.

The principle of ________ helps preserve the concept of an unbroken line of authority.

Departmentalization refers to the degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized.

You assign your students a project that involves developing a business plan for a retail chain. The retail chain will have 1000 employees and will serve customers both locally and internationally via a storefront and an Internet catalogue. Which of the following organizational designs is least likely to be suitable for this retail store?

The strength of the bureaucracy lies in its ability to perform standardized activities in a highly efficient manner.

Consultants Exceptional (CE) has hired you to develop training materials for their consultants. Your first assignment is to develop a training program that helps their consultants to analyze and understand the organizational structure of the company that they are assisting. You believe that in order to adequately evaluate and understand a client company, consultants need to understand the basic organizational structure of the company. Consultants are then able to recommend actions and changes based on the company's structure. One of the questions you tell the trainees to ask is, "To what degree are tasks subdivided into separate jobs?" This question addresses the issue of ________.

Aeronautics Inc., a parts supplier, has departments for government aircraft and contracts, large commercial aircraft clients, and small personal aircraft clients. This is an example of ________ departmentalization.

Some individuals want work that makes minimal intellectual demands and provides the security of routine; for them, ________ is a source of job satisfaction.

The more the lower-level personnel provide input or are actually given the discretion to make decisions, the ________ within that organization.

Any organization's environment has three dimensions. Identify these dimensions.

Which of the following is not an effective strategy for downsizing?

Who coined the term "boundaryless organization"?

What is the difference between the mechanistic model and the organic model of organizational structure?

Which of the following is not part of an organization's environment?

A ________ allows management to make the most efficient use of its employees' skills and even successfully improve them through repetition.

The clerical and editorial employees in a publishing house need to be at their desks by 8:00 a.m. and follow a set of precise procedures dictated by management. The jobs of these clerical and editorial employees ________.

As compared to a decentralized organization, a centralized organization can act more quickly to solve problems.

Organizations following a(n) ________ strategy try to both minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit, moving into new products or new markets only after innovators have proven their viability.