Question 1

Narrative 8-1
A $100 million loss,plummeting advertising sales,a stock price that has fallen from an all-time high of $237 to less than $10 per share,and layoffs that cost 800 people their jobs,including the previous CEO. Welcome to Yahoo! At this once phenomenally successful company,so many basic things have gone wrong that the question is,where do you start to fix it
One key problem is the organizational structure. With just 3,200 employees,Yahoo has 44 different business units. General Electric,with 300,000 employees,has only 13. Yahoo doesn't have a direct sales unit-no one,it turns out,is responsible for cultivating customers because customer advertising dollars were being thrown at the company. Consequently,most orders took place via e-mail. Yahoo didn't have to establish relationships with customers because customers came to it. Unfortunately,this led to arrogance. A potential customer said the message was,"Buy our stuff [meaning Yahoo's advertising],and shut up." Jeff Mallett,Yahoo's former president,said,"We ran Yahoo to optimize market share. I make no apologies for that. If there was a company that didn't get it [Internet advertising],we moved on very quickly."
Another problem was the overly creative,freewheeling,spontaneous company culture in which everyone,including the CEO,worked in cubicles,representing an overly informal culture with no controls. At Yahoo,employees played soccer in a large open space outside the company boardroom,even while the board was meeting. Furthermore,no one had an overall perspective of what was best for the entire company. Consequently,unit managers would beg,borrow,and steal from the network (the overall company)to help their own properties. Beyond that,ideas were pursued without having to get anyone's feedback or approval. Yahoo's chief operating officer said,"Yahoo's original mission was to grow as fast as you can and put things out there and see what works." The more serious problem,he said,was that "nobody knew what would work."
Yahoo was so informal,so unfocused,and so freewheeling that no one really worried about whether the company could charge for the services it provided and make a profit. "There was a fear," said one manager,"that if all of our efforts were put into profit making,we'd starve research and development and lose our innovation."
-Refer to Narrative 8-1. Which of the following is an advantage of Yahoo's organizational structure?

Accepted Answer

A)  the elimination of the constraints associated with the chain of command  
B)  a flatter structure better able to respond to a static environment  
C)  the elimination of resource duplication  
D)  the ease with which top managers can specialize within one area D

Question 2

Large accounting agencies typically have separate departments that deal with households,businesses,and governments. Which type of departmentalization do many of these accounting agencies use to better serve the needs of their clients?

Accepted Answer

A)  matrix  
B)  product  
C)  customer  
D)  functional C

Question 3

Zara clothing stores has developed a system that can order new fashions and deliver them to the store in only three weeks. The system begins inside the store via Internet communications between store manager and headquarters. As soon as a manager notices that a certain item is selling especially well,the manager can send a new order out from the store and give suggestions for new colours and designs. Next,designers and managers receive the information and match it with suggestions from other Zara store managers. Designers then draw up the new styles and send the patterns to Zara factories in Spain,where they are made. The clothes reach Zara's stores within 48 hours. What is Zara using to pass information to the next person in the line of development?

Accepted Answer

A)  standardization  
B)  sequential interdependence  
C)  pooled interdependence  
D)  manager empowerment B

Question 4

An international distribution company has a shipping division,a warehouse division,and a computer hardware and software distribution centre,as well as a marketing research department,a human resources department,and an accounting department. A salesperson who works in the shipping division is told by the accounting department that he must turn in a weekly expense account;at the same time,his supervisor in the shipping division wants expense accounts submitted monthly. Preparing the expense account form takes at least two hours,and the salesperson wants to devote as much time as possible to sales. Which of the following is the salesperson likely experiencing a problem with?

Accepted Answer

A)  line authority  
B)  delegation of authority  
C)  centralization  
D)  chain of command

Question 5

LexisNexis realized that its ability to serve new Web-based customers was severely strained. Thousands of small and midsize law firms represented a huge business opportunity for the company's legal-information services,but they often had to wait 48 hours to have their Web accounts activated after signing up. For smaller firms seeking to buy documents in small quantities,often to apply to pending cases,such a delay was intolerable. Clearly,LexisNexis needed to revamp its customer sign-up and order-fulfillment processes,which were designed for large law firms and the ordering of hardcover legal tomes. Which of the following would LexisNexis most likely use to radically change its business practices?

Accepted Answer

A)  standardization  
B)  micro-adaptation  
C)  sequential independence  
D)  re-engineering

Question 6

Matrix departmentalization is a hybrid structure in which two or more forms of departmentalization are used together,such as the product and functional forms.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

Explain what is meant by authority. How can authority be centralized? How can it be decentralized? Describe the circumstances under which centralization versus decentralization would be more desirable. If you were a manager in a large company,what particular challenge might you expect to face with regard to the use of decentralization?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain what is meant by authority. How...

Question 8

Identify an organization that you know of and explain how and why its approach to organizational design tends to fit better with either the traditional (structure)or contemporary (process)approaches to organizational design. Be sure to state whether your organizational example more closely fits the model of mechanistic or organic organizational design.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Identify an organization that you know of...

Question 9

List and briefly describe the two approaches that companies can use to redesign internal processes.

Accepted Answer

The answer of List and briefly describe the two approaches...

Question 10

What is a modular organization? Briefly identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with this organizational form.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is a modular organization? Briefly identify...

Question 11

The term task description refers to the number,kind,and variety of tasks that individual workers perform in doing their jobs.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

What type of departmentalization organizes work and workers into distinct units responsible for certain business roles or areas of expertise?

Accepted Answer

A)  functional  
B)  customer  
C)  matrix  
D)  product

Question 13

Define authority. List the four dimensions by which it has traditionally been characterized in organizations.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Define authority. List the four dimensions by...

Question 14

While organizational structure emphasizes the activities through which work gets done in the organization,organizational process emphasizes jobs and their authority relationships.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

One advantage of virtual organization is that it allows member companies to share costs.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

Robin works in customer service of a department store. She handles returned products. For most products,if they are returned in original packaging,are undamaged,and the customer has the bill,Robin will accept the return for a full refund. However,for camping gear,the policy is no returns and no exceptions. What term describes how Robin handles returned products?

Accepted Answer

A)  consistency planning  
B)  organizational autonomy  
C)  standardization  
D)  problem empowerment

Question 17

What is an intra-organizational process? Identify the techniques that are being used by companies today to change these processes. Evaluate the probable level of risk to a company in using each of these approaches.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is an intra-organizational process? Identify the...

Question 18

The marketing manager of a company that manufactures church furniture has been given the job of increasing corporate profits by 5 percent during the upcoming year. The manager has decided to give his assistant the full responsibility and authority for developing a mailing campaign to target churches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The manager is making this individual accountable for the campaign's success. What has the marketing manager done?

Accepted Answer

A)  implemented feedback controls  
B)  created a staff position  
C)  embraced the matrix organizational philosophy  
D)  delegated the task

Question 19

What are the primary disadvantages of job specialization? How can job redesign be used to overcome these disadvantages?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the primary disadvantages of job...

Question 20

competence,impact,and self-determination produce empowered employees who take active rather than passive roles in their work.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Exam 8: Designing Adaptive Organizations

Large accounting agencies typically have separate departments that deal with households,businesses,and governments. Which type of departmentalization do many of these accounting agencies use to better serve the needs of their clients?

Matrix departmentalization is a hybrid structure in which two or more forms of departmentalization are used together,such as the product and functional forms.

List and briefly describe the two approaches that companies can use to redesign internal processes.

What is a modular organization? Briefly identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with this organizational form.

The term task description refers to the number,kind,and variety of tasks that individual workers perform in doing their jobs.

What type of departmentalization organizes work and workers into distinct units responsible for certain business roles or areas of expertise?

Define authority. List the four dimensions by which it has traditionally been characterized in organizations.

While organizational structure emphasizes the activities through which work gets done in the organization,organizational process emphasizes jobs and their authority relationships.

One advantage of virtual organization is that it allows member companies to share costs.

What is an intra-organizational process? Identify the techniques that are being used by companies today to change these processes. Evaluate the probable level of risk to a company in using each of these approaches.

What are the primary disadvantages of job specialization? How can job redesign be used to overcome these disadvantages?

competence,impact,and self-determination produce empowered employees who take active rather than passive roles in their work.