Deck 16: Organizational Structure and Design

Question 1

Delegation of authority refers specifically to doing work.

Answer 1

False
Explanation: Delegation of authority refers specifically to making decisions, not to doing work.

Question 2

A fully-developed matrix organization has product management departments along with the usual functional departments.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Clients or customers should never be a basis for grouping jobs.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Clients or customers can be a basis for grouping jobs, as is the case with most educational institutions.

Question 4

A divisional structure has a notable advantage over other structures in its efficiency.

Question 5

The following reporting relationship may best indicate a functional form of organization.The manager of the Lexington,Kentucky,retail store of a national chain reports to the president,Midwest Division.The Midwest Division reports to the headquarters unit.

Question 6

The individual who can clearly and concisely communicate with subordinates is able to manage more people than one who can't.

Question 7

Some organizations have eliminated the hierarchy through which authority flows from the highest-level manager to the lowest-level manager.

Question 8

In general,the greater the inherent ambiguity in an individual's job,the greater the need for supervision to avoid conflict and stress.

Question 9

Functional departments are made up of jobs with great differences.

Question 10

As the number of employees with specialized jobs increases within an organization,it becomes easier for a single manager to coordinate their efforts.

Question 11

A relatively high delegation of authority discourages the development of management.

Question 12

A major disadvantage of the departmental basis is that organizational goals may be sacrificed in favor of departmental goals.

Question 13

The critical issue in determining a manager's span of control is the number of potential relationships in the unit.

Question 14

All jobs contain some degree of the right to exact obedience from others.

Question 15

Span of labor concerns the extent to which jobs are specialized.

Question 16

In layman's terms,bureaucracy refers to the negative consequences of large organizations,such as excessive red tape and procedural delays.

Question 17

"Flattening" an organization decreases the average span of control of each manager.

Question 18

The cost of formal management training programs is always offset by the benefits.

Question 19

The number of jobs to be included in a specific group is an issue of span of control.

Question 20

High delegation of authority creates the need for checks on its use.

Question 21

Manufacturing plants often divide work into fabricating and assembly,with individuals assigned to one of these two activities.This division of work is called _______________ differentiation.

A) specialty
B) horizontal
C) sequence
D) vertical

Question 22

The organic model seeks to maximize ____________________.

A) satisfaction, flexibility and development
B) efficiency and production
C) expressive and significant communication
D) organizational growth

Question 23

Scientific management largely focused on methods to implement the principle of ________.

A) specialization
B) cooperation
C) coordination
D) totality

Question 24

Rules and procedures that are not enforced will not affect behavior.

Question 25

The _______________ model of organizational design is relatively simple,decentralized,and informal.

A) mechanistic
B) geographic
C) organic
D) bureaucratic

Question 26

Subaru's Indiana manufacturing plant was the first auto assembly plant in the world to:

A) Use biodegradable bumpers
B) Use eco-friendly paint
C) Use all American-made parts
D) Send nothing to the landfill

Question 27

The _______ chain is the route for all vertical communications in an organization.

A) secular
B) scalar
C) sanctioned
D) "S"

Question 28

With the _______________ model of organizational design,decision making,control,and goal setting are decentralized and shared at all levels of the organization.

A) mechanistic
B) geographic
C) organic
D) bureaucratic

Question 29

__________ described a type of organization that functions in a machine-like manner to accomplish the organization's goals in a highly efficient manner.

A) Fayol
B) Skinner
C) Fielder
D) Herzberg

Question 30

According to Weber,the bureaucratic structure is superior to any other form in ___________.

A) Precision
B) Stability
C) Reliability
D) All of the above.

Question 31

Specialization of labor contributes primarily to horizontal differentiation.

Question 32

_______________ is the right to make decisions without approval by a higher manager and to extract obedience from other people.

A) Specialization
B) Authority
C) Span of control
D) Division of labor

Question 33

The ______ organization is flexible to changing environmental demands because its design encourages greater utilization of human potential.

A) organoleptic
B) organic
C) optimized
D) eco

Question 34

Departments in Japanese firms are more often based on function and process than on product,customer,or location.

Question 35

Wide spans of control encourage one-on-one supervision.

Question 36

Delegation of authority contributes to vertical differentiation.

Question 37

All of the following are structural characteristics of the mechanistic model except:

A) It's highly complex
B) It's highly centralized
C) It's highly geographic
D) It's highly formalized

Question 38

Division of labor in organizations can occur in ______ different ways.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five

Question 39

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans transformed its organization from a mechanistic to an organic structure to take advantage of the _______________ concept.

A) specialization
B) increased job range
C) delegation of authority
D) self-managed team

Question 40

Likert used the terms "System-1" and "System-4" to refer to ________ organizations respectively.

A) functional and organic
B) functional and matrix
C) centralized and decentralized
D) mechanistic and organic

Question 41

Organizations that decentralize (delegate)authority enable managers to:

A) Make significant decisions
B) Gain skills
C) Advance in the company
D) All of the choices are correct

Question 42

All of the following were presented as suggestions for enhancing individual success within a matrix organization except:

A) Communicate clearly, but as seldom as possible
B) Get to know others in the organization before you need their assistance
C) Be aware of deadlines and manage your time been projects appropriately
D) Keep management abreast of your activities

Question 43

Which of the following is one of the design decisions that management must consider in determining the structure of the organization?

A) Span of control
B) Delegation of authority
C) Departmentalization
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 44

A dual authority system is a distinguishing characteristic of a(n)_______________ organization.

A) organic
B) matrix
C) mechanistic
D) geopolitical

Question 45

The principal advantage of the functional basis is its _______________.

A) efficiency
B) responsiveness
C) manageability
D) flexibility

Question 46

In a matrix organization,top management is _______________ with day-to-day operations.

A) less involved
B) never involved
C) always involved
D) more involved

Question 47

In practical terms,the __________ design combines functional and product departmental bases.

A) Manix
B) mixed
C) matrix
D) multiple channel

Question 48

Management can typically combine ________ specialized and similar jobs into relatively _______ departments.

A) highly; large
B) minimally; small
C) highly; small
D) minimally; large

Question 49

Matrix organizations achieve the desired balance by superimposing a horizontal structure of _______________ on the vertical structure.

A) authority
B) influence
C) communication
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 50

Generally,the issue of span of control comes down to how many _______________ a manager can oversee.

A) products
B) customers
C) facilities
D) people

Question 51

Ordinarily,the process of moving to matrix organization is:

A) evolutionary
B) revolutionary
C) immediate
D) motivational

Question 52

Loan officers are often associated with industrial,commercial,or agricultural loans.This is an example of a(n)_______ form of departmentalization.

A) process
B) customer
C) impact
D) segmented

Question 53

In practical terms,the matrix design combines functional and ________________ departmental bases.

A) geographical
B) customer
C) product
D) retail

Question 54

A(n)_______________ structure encourages constant interaction among project unit and functional department members.

A) organic
B) matrix
C) mechanistic
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 55

The potential conflict between allegiance to one's functional manager and one's project manager must be recognized and dealt with in _______________ organizations.

A) organic
B) matrix
C) mechanistic
D) lateral

Question 56

Once a task force achieves its objective,the task force _______________.

A) dissolves
B) transitions into a standing project team
C) becomes permanent work group
D) splits into smaller groups

Question 57

High delegation of authority creates the need for _______________.

A) corresponding higher salaries
B) updated management titles
C) checks on its use
D) larger spans of control

Question 58

Managers need to consider how the four design decisions influence the structure of their organizations.In a similar vein,there are three dimensions of organizational structure that interact with these design decisions,namely ______________.

A) formalization, centralization, and complexity
B) division of labor, delegation of authority, departmentalization, and span of control
C) centralization, complexity, and span of control
D) formalization, centralization, and delegation of authority

Question 59

Which of the following is a condition that may lead to organizational benefit through the application of a matrix structure?

A) Organizations that must deal with financial and human resources constraints
B) Organizations that require responses to rapid change in two or more environments, such as technology and markets
C) Organizations that face uncertainties that generate high information-processing requirement
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 60

At present,all of the following dimensions are used in research and practice to describe organizational structure except:

A) Formalization
B) Centralization
C) Complexity
D) Desirability

Question 61

What is the principal historical reason for the creation of organizations?

Question 62

What are the most distinct differences between the organic and the mechanistic organizational models?

Question 63

Work in e-commerce,consulting,marketing,and job searching seems best suited for _______________ organizations.

A) virtual
B) mechanistic
C) geographic
D) organic

Question 64

The _______ the specialization of labor,the _________ the complexity.

A) greater; greater
B) greater; less
C) less; greater
D) None of the above; the two constructs are not related.

Question 65

Wide spans of control ___________ one-on-one supervision.

A) necessitate
B) discourage
C) promote
D) None of the above, there is no established relation between the two.

Question 66

The greater the use of ________ departments the _________ the centralization.

A) customer; greater
B) functional; greater
C) functional; less
D) geographic; greater

Question 67

The dimension of _______________ refers to the extent to which expectations regarding the means and ends of work are specified,written,and enforced.

A) formalization
B) centralization
C) complexity
D) mechanism

Question 68

Are the right to "extract obedience" and the "right to make decisions" associated with a particular type or class of job?

Question 69

Departments in Japanese firms are most often based on _______________.

A) products
B) customers
C) function
D) location

Question 70

The typical Japanese manufacturing job has _______________ the typical Western manufacturing job.

A) more range than
B) less range than
C) the same range as
D) There is no range in manufacturing jobs.

Question 71

Thrivent Financial implemented a form of employee compensation termed ______________ to encourage employees to adopt a new work system.

A) pay for knowledge
B) pay for productivity
C) incentive pay
D) gainsharing

Question 72

The concept of virtual organizations originated in or at:

A) NASA
B) Major universities
C) Microsoft
D) Japan

Question 73

The Federal Express structure,with regional presidents and their "armies," is modeled after a system made popular by the:

A) Romans
B) Greeks
C) Roman Catholic Church
D) United States Postal Service

Question 74

Which of the following statements about boundaryless organizations is false?

A) Chains of command are eliminated
B) Spans of control are unlimited
C) Rigid departments are replaced with empowered teams
D) Participative decision making is eliminated

Question 75

It has become standard practice to use the term _________ differentiation to refer to the number of different units at the same level and _______ differentiation to refer to the number of levels in the organization.

A) horizontal; vertical
B) vertical; horizontal
C) horizontal; status
D) job; rank

Question 76

Why may decentralization lead to duplication of effort?

Question 77

The greater the use of the _______________ basis,the greater the complexity.

A) geographic
B) customer
C) product
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 78

With _____________,the same organizational structure and operating policies and procedures that exist in the existing domestic organization are used when setting up a foreign subsidiary.

A) replication
B) projection
C) duplication
D) nationalizing

Question 79

Why may a manager believe that delegating authority will lead to lower levels of effectiveness?

Question 80

The concept of organizational complexity refers to:

A) The number of distinctly different job titles
B) Occupational groupings
C) The number of distinctly different units or departments
D) All of the choices are correct.