Deck 7: Bureaucracy and Formal Organizations

Question 1

When an organization replaces old goals with new ones, this is known as

A) alienation.
B) McDonaldization.
C) goal displacement.
D) the Peter Principle.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to Max Weber, _____ produced rationality.

A) capitalism
B) Catholicism
C) Judaism
D) Protestantism

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A characteristic of bureaucracies is that rules are

A) scarce.
B) hard to find.
C) written down.
D) secret.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

_____ has a formal organization, hierarchical authority, and a clear division of labor.

A) information society
B) feudal society
C) bureaucracy
D) traditional society

Question 5

Communications in a bureaucracy are

A) written down and retained.
B) not recorded.
C) written down, and discarded after 30 days.
D) always a matter of public record.

Question 6

In a traditional society, production is done by

A) workers hired for the job.
B) mixed-sex groups.
C) prisoners of war.
D) family members.

Question 7

The characteristics of bureaucracies that Max Weber identified are

A) universally true.
B) ideal types.
C) more imagination than fact.
D) outdated.

Question 8

The _____ of society refers to the process by which ordinary aspects of life are rationalized and efficiency comes to rule them.

A) goal displacement
B) alienation
C) bureaucratization
D) McDonaldization

Question 9

_____ society refers to a widespread acceptance of rationality and social organizations that are built largely around this idea.

A) Rationalization of
B) Dumbing down of
C) Traditional
D) A horticultural

Question 10

A formal organization tends to develop into a(n)

A) theocracy.
B) informal organization.
C) irrational group.
D) bureaucracy.

Question 11

_____ means using rules, efficiency, and practical results to determine human affairs.

A) Traditional society
B) Capitalism
C) Rationality
D) Innovation

Question 12

Marx believed that the rise of _____ was responsible for tradition giving way to rationality.

A) capitalism
B) socialism
C) traditional societies
D) religion

Question 13

In a bureaucracy, each worker is

A) replaceable.
B) the boss.
C) irreplaceable.
D) holding a hereditary position.

Question 14

Where production is involved, relationships are _____-term in a traditional society and _____-term in a nontraditional society.

A) long; long
B) long; short
C) short; short
D) short; long

Question 15

In a(n) _____ society, the past is thought to be the best guide for the present.

A) traditional
B) modern
C) alienated
D) Western

Question 16

Market competition characterizes

A) capitalism.
B) communism.
C) Catholicism.
D) traditional societies.

Question 17

_____ is a secondary group designed to achieve explicit objectives.

A) bureaucracy
B) formal organization
C) informal organization
D) postmodern society

Question 18

Between the top of the bureaucratic structure of a university and a sociology professor on the bottom, how many layers are there? (Include the top and the bottom in the count.)

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 7

Question 19

According to Weber, in a bureaucracy assignments flow _____ and accountability flows _____.

A) upward; upward
B) upward; downward
C) downward; downward
D) downward; upward

Question 20

People in a nontraditional society, most people work

A) in or near the home.
B) in a centralized location, such as a factory or an office.
C) abroad.
D) as itinerant workers.

Question 21

The different units of a bureaucracy _____ communicate very well.

A) always
B) do not always
C) never try to
D) have no mandate to

Question 22

_____ used the term alienation to describe the lack of connection between workers and the products of their labor.

A) Weber
B) Freud
C) Michels
D) Marx

Question 23

Bureaucracies have come to dominate our society because

A) they are incompetent.
B) there is no other form of organization.
C) they are so successful.
D) they are the law of the land.

Question 24

Today bureaucracies face some competition in their domination of organizational development from

A) social media.
B) mega-bureaucracies.
C) other formal organizations.
D) goal displacement.

Question 25

Workers feel alienation because they are

A) cut off from the finished product of their labor.
B) spoiled.
C) tired of using their own tools to make the finished product.
D) overstimulated by their jobs.

Question 26

The March of Dimes was an organization founded to fight polio. When a cure for polio was found, the March of Dimes, through _____, targeted a new enemy-birth defects.

A) bureaucratic inertia
B) the Peter principle
C) goal displacement
D) alienation

Question 27

The Knights of Columbus, the Girl Scouts, and the Chamber of Commerce are examples of

A) temporary organizations.
B) alternatives to bureaucracies.
C) oligarchies.
D) voluntary associations.

Question 28

In a voluntary association, there is a(n) _____ made up of people very committed to the group.

A) outer circle
B) collection of hangers-on
C) inner circle
D) underground component

Question 29

Voluntary associations tend to

A) take no public position on matters of interest.
B) have too many goals to move toward any one of them.
C) advance particular interests.
D) do nothing much except serve as a social club.

Question 30

Bureaucracies have structures that can be shown in official organizational charts, but _____ may use the real lines of authority.

A) the Peter Principle
B) red tape
C) "going through channels"
D) McDonaldization

Question 31

The term _____ refers to a system in which many are ruled by a few.

A) oligarchy
B) bureaucracy
C) voluntary association
D) leadership

Question 32

Voluntary associations such as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds

A) preserve the societal status quo.
B) pave the way for social change.
C) are primarily after publicity rather than change.
D) do not challenge the established ways of doing things.

Question 33

When society began to be rationalized, production of items became

A) nearly impossible, because there were so many rules.
B) less rational (ironically), because the new methods took longer.
C) broken down into components, with individuals assigned only specific tasks.
D) generalized, so one worker would stick with the same item from beginning to end.

Question 34

In a(n) _____, people voluntarily organize on the basis of some mutual interest.

A) organization of any type
B) bureaucracy
C) voluntary association
D) oligarchy

Question 35

The motivation for joining a voluntary association

A) is always cause-related.
B) is rarely known.
C) varies.
D) is always romance.

Question 36

In terms of social order, voluntary associations

A) defy it.
B) ignore it.
C) provide an alternative.
D) help maintain it.

Question 37

One thing voluntary associations do is offer people a(n)

A) sense of alienation.
B) identity.
C) lot of work and no rewards.
D) means to destroy the prevailing social order.

Question 38

Humanizing the work setting aims to

A) impede human potential.
B) placate those advancing a contemporary corporate fad.
C) develop rather than impede human potential.
D) keep people from working at home.

Question 39

According to _____, members of an organization are promoted for their accomplishments until they reach their level of incompetence.

A) McDonaldization
B) Max Weber
C) the Peter Principle
D) goal displacement

Question 40

Robert Michels said that there is a tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite. He called this the

A) McDonaldization of contemporary life.
B) hidden voluntary culture.
C) iron law of oligarchy.
D) democratic group.

Question 41

One thing that diversity in the workplace includes, which you might not think of right off, is

A) race.
B) sexual orientation.
C) gender.
D) social class.

Question 42

The values, norms, and other orientation that characterize corporate work settings are known as

A) corporate culture.
B) a self-fulfilling stereotype.
C) worker empowerment.
D) humanizing the work setting.

Question 43

Humanizing the workplace, from the _____ perspective, is a term used to camouflage what is really going on-the capitalists' goal of exploiting workers.

A) symbolic interactionist
B) functionalist
C) rationalist
D) conflict

Question 44

According to federal law, employers must provide _____ for employees who are nursing mothers.

A) lactation rooms
B) on-site child care
C) help converting to formula
D) counseling

Question 45

What are some of the dysfunctions of bureaucracies?

Question 46

With the extent and type of government surveillance, plus our smartphones and cars broadcasting our location, we may be entering a(n)

A) minimum-security society.
B) utopia, because we will have little to fear.
C) maximum-security society.
D) "memory hole."

Question 47

What are some of the fads corporations have attempted to use to humanize the work setting (and, of course, to increase productivity)?

Question 48

When people use work computers for personal purposes, this is known as

A) hacking.
B) cyberslacking.
C) virtual work.
D) cybersleuthing.

Question 49

What functions do voluntary associations serve?

Question 50

With _____, preconceived ideas of what someone is like lead to the person's behaving in ways that match those ideas.

A) humanizing the work setting
B) a self-fulfilling stereotype
C) the hidden corporate culture
D) quality circles

Question 51

Employees in work teams are

A) less motivated.
B) quicker to react to technological innovation.
C) absent more often.
D) less productive.

Question 52

What are the characteristics of a bureaucracy as identified by Max Weber?

Question 53

_____ refer(s) to stereotypical traits that make for high-performing and under-performing workers.

A) Self-fulfilling stereotypes
B) Quality circles
C) Hidden corporate culture
D) The conflict perspective

Question 54

Today, _____ of workers are women and _____ are minorities.

A) 10%; 8%
B) 26%; 21%
C) 47%; 32%
D) 56%; 41%

Question 55

Briefly compare the relationships in production between traditional societies and nontraditional societies.