Deck 14: Foundations of Organisational Structure

Question 1

The ________ refers to the number of subordinates a manager can efficiently and effectively direct.

A)organisational chart
B)unity of command
C)span of control
D)chain of command

Answer 1

C

Question 2

One of the most popular ways to group activities is by:

A)function
B)geography
C)process
D)product

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Woolworths departmentalises by Woolworths Liquor,BWS,and Dan Murphy Cellars.This is an example of departmentalisation by:

A)process
B)product
C)customer
D)function

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A manufacturing manager who organises the plant by separating engineering,accounting,manufacturing,personnel,and purchasing into departments is practicing ________ departmentalisation.

A)target customer
B)geographic
C)functional
D)product

Question 5

The ________ principle states that a person should have one and only one superior to whom he or she is directly responsible.

A)unity of command
B)power
C)chain of command
D)span of control

Question 6

Organisational structure is made up of six key elements.Which of the following is not one of these elements?

A)coordination
B)formalisation
C)departmentalisation
D)centralisation

Question 7

Which of the following is a drawback of a narrow span of control?

A)It encourages overly tight supervision and discourages employee autonomy.
B)It is inexpensive.
C)Managers maintain closer control.
D)It empowers employees.

Question 8

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

A)span of control
B)unity of command
C)power
D)decentralisation

Question 9

________ defines how job tasks are formally divided,grouped,and coordinated.

A)Organisational behaviour
B)Organisational structure
C)Span of control
D)Formalisation

Question 10

Which one of the following components of organisational structure specifically defines where decisions are made?

A)centralisation
B)technology
C)formalisation
D)complexity

Question 11

The unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organisation to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom is termed:

A)authority
B)chain of command
C)power
D)unity of command

Question 12

In the late 1940s,most manufacturing jobs in industrialised countries were being done with high:

A)work specialisation
B)formalisation
C)span of control
D)departmentalisation

Question 13

Work specialisation is the same as:

A)unity of command
B)span of control
C)job grouping
D)division of labour

Question 14

The basis by which jobs are grouped together is termed:

A)formalisation
B)departmentalisation
C)work specialisation
D)centralisation

Question 15

The degree to which tasks are subdivided into separate jobs is termed:

A)departmentalisation
B)formalisation
C)span of control
D)work specialisation

Question 16

Grouping jobs on the basis of function,product,geography,process,or customer is a form of:

A)chain of command
B)span of control
C)departmentalisation
D)work specialisation

Question 17

________ departmentalisation achieves economies of scale by placing people with common skills and orientations into common units.

A)Functional
B)Product
C)Geographic
D)Process

Question 18

The right inherent in a managerial position to give orders and expect orders to be obeyed is termed:

A)chain of command
B)unity of command
C)power
D)authority

Question 19

At an Alcoa aluminium tubing plant,production is organised into five departments: casting; press; tubing; finishing; and inspecting,packing and shipping.This is an example of ________ departmentalisation.

A)process
B)product
C)functional
D)geographic

Question 20

For much of the first half of the 20th century,managers viewed ________ as an unending source of increased productivity.

A)formalisation
B)span of control
C)departmentalisation
D)work specialisation

Question 21

There are four key design elements of organisational structure.

Question 22

Specialisation defines how job tasks are formally defined,grouped,and coordinated.

Question 23

Which of the following is not a drawback of a narrow span of control?

A)They encourage overly tight supervision.
B)They are expensive.
C)They make vertical communication in the organisation more complex.
D)They encourage employee autonomy.

Question 24

The best definition for centralisation is:

A)decision making depends on the situation
B)decision making is done in each department and then sent to the president for the final decision
C)decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organisation
D)decision discretion is pushed down to lower level employees

Question 25

If a job is highly formalised,it would not include which of the following?

A)explicit job description
B)clearly defined procedures on work processes
C)a large number of organisational rules
D)high employee job discretion

Question 26

The strength of functional departmentalisation is putting similar specialists together.

Question 27

Employee discretion is inversely related to:

A)technology
B)standardisation
C)centralisation
D)complexity

Question 28

The trend in recent years has been toward:

A)an ideal span of control of eight
B)narrower spans of control
C)a span of control of five
D)wider spans of control

Question 29

The degree to which tasks in the organisation are subdivided into separate jobs is termed departmentalisation.

Question 30

Organisations may use all of the forms of departmentalisation.

Question 31

Managers need to address six key elements when they design their organisation's structure: work specialisation,departmentalisation,chain of command,span of control,centralisation and decentralisation,and formalisation.

Question 32

For much of the first half of this century,managers viewed departmentalisation as an unending source of increased productivity.

Question 33

Work specialisation can be carried too far and may result in employee boredom,stress,and absenteeism.

Question 34

The component of structure which considers where decision-making authority lies is:

A)formalisation
B)delegation
C)complexity
D)centralisation

Question 35

___________ are consistent with recent efforts by companies to reduce costs,cut overhead,speed up decision making,increase flexibility,get closer to customers,and empower employees.

A)Narrower spans of control
B)Wider spans of control
C)Flatter organisations
D)Formalisations

Question 36

In an organisation that has high centralisation:

A)all top level officials are located within the same geographic area
B)the corporate headquarters is located centrally to branch offices
C)action can be taken more quickly to solve problems
D)top managers make all the decisions and lower level managers merely carry out top management's directions

Question 37

Work specialisation and division of labour are synonymous.

Question 38

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

A)work specialisation
B)departmentalisation
C)decentralisation
D)centralisation

Question 39

If you have a narrow span of control,you have a ________ organisation.

A)matrix
B)multi-level
C)semi-matrix
D)single-level

Question 40

Explicit job descriptions,lots of rules,and clearly defined procedures concerning work processes are consistent with:

A)technological innovation
B)high formalisation
C)an organic model
D)high centralisation

Question 41

The greater the formalisation,the less input an employee has into how his or her work is done.

Question 42

All things being equal,the wider or larger the span,the more efficient the organisation.

Question 43

Flat organisational structures result from narrow spans of control.

Question 44

The trend in recent years has been toward wider spans of control.

Question 45

Narrow spans of control encourage overly tight supervision and discourage employee autonomy.

Question 46

We-Train-Em has hired you to develop training materials for their seminars.Your first assignment is to write a training manual that will assist new managers in designing an appropriate structure for their part of an organisation.Included in the manual will be information about the key questions that they must answer in deciding about the best organisational structure. One of the questions included in the training manual is,"To what degree are tasks subdivided into separate jobs?" This question addresses the issue of:

A)formalisation
B)work specialisation
C)chain of command
D)span of control

Question 47

Departmentalisation answers questions for employee such as "To whom do I go if I have a problem?"

Question 48

To ensure that performance doesn't suffer because of wider spans,organisations have been investing heavily in employee training.

Question 49

You have divided the jobs done by your department through work specialisation and are now trying to decide how to best group them for efficiency and service to the customer.You are considering grouping activities by function,product,process,or customer. You have decided that since you are a novice at departmentalisation,you will go with the most popular method.You will probably choose ________ departmentalisation.

A)product
B)process
C)customer
D)function

Question 50

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

Question 51

The inherent right in a managerial position to give orders and expect the orders to be obeyed is termed authority.

Question 52

The unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organisation to the lowest echelon is termed the chain of command.

Question 53

In a decentralised organisation,decision making is pushed down to the managers closest to the action.

Question 54

The principle of unity of command suggests that managers should back one another up when a directive has been given.

Question 55

We-Train-Em has hired you to develop training materials for their seminars.Your first assignment is to write a training manual that will assist new managers in designing an appropriate structure for their part of an organisation.Included in the manual will be information about the key questions that they must answer in deciding about the best organisational structure. The degree of rules and regulations that direct employees and managers is termed:

A)chain of command
B)span of control
C)formalisation
D)departmentalisation

Question 56

Increase in the number of rules and regulations results in increased formalisation.

Question 57

We-Train-Em has hired you to develop training materials for their seminars.Your first assignment is to write a training manual that will assist new managers in designing an appropriate structure for their part of an organisation.Included in the manual will be information about the key questions that they must answer in deciding about the best organisational structure. ________ is addressed by asking the question,"On what basis will jobs be grouped together?"

A)Formalisation
B)Work specialisation
C)Centralisation and decentralisation
D)Departmentalisation

Question 58

Span of control determines the number of levels and managers an organisation has.

Question 59

A decentralised organisation is more likely to result in a feeling of alienation by employees than a centralised organisation.

Question 60

Autonomy and formalisation are inversely related.

Question 61

Matthew is a new divisional manager.In reorganising his department,he must make some decisions regarding the span of control. Wider spans are more efficient in terms of cost.However,at some point:

A)supervisors have more time to provide support
B)wider spans reduce effectiveness
C)the organisation becomes taller
D)employee performance is heightened

Question 62

Which of the following is not a common organisational design?

A)matrix structure
B)centralised structure
C)bureaucracy
D)simple structure

Question 63

You have divided the jobs done by your department through work specialisation and are now trying to decide how to best group them for efficiency and service to the customer.You are considering grouping activities by function,product,process,or customer. You are organising into NSW,VIC,WA,and QLD regions.This is termed ________ departmentalisation.

A)function
B)customer
C)process
D)geographic

Question 64

What is work specialisation?

Question 65

When over-used,work specialisation can be distressing to employees to the point where it causes boredom and increased absenteeism.

Question 66

List and briefly describe the six key questions that managers need to answer in designing the proper organisational structure.

Question 67

Matthew is a new divisional manager.In reorganising his department,he must make some decisions regarding the span of control. The question of span of control determines:

A)how jobs will be grouped
B)who reports to whom
C)the number of levels and managers an organisation has
D)where decisions are made

Question 68

What is the difference between centralisation and decentralisation?

Question 69

Departmentalisation,not specialisation,was seen as an unlimited source of increased worker productivity for the 20th century.

Question 70

You have divided the jobs done by your department through work specialisation and are now trying to decide how to best group them for efficiency and service to the customer.You are considering grouping activities by function,product,process,or customer. You find that there seems to be a common set of problems among certain types of buyers of your product.You will probably choose:

A)process departmentalisation
B)product departmentalisation
C)customer departmentalisation
D)function departmentalisation

Question 71

What is organisational structure?

Question 72

Matthew is a new divisional manager.In reorganising his department,he must make some decisions regarding the span of control. By keeping the span of control to 5 or 6 employees,which of the following is not a drawback?

A)It is expensive.
B)Decision making is slowed down.
C)Vertical communication is more complex.
D)Upper management is less isolated.

Question 73

Because departmentalism types vary,organisations find them useful.

Question 74

What is 'chain of command'?

Question 75

Discuss and give examples of the five common ways that an organisation can group activities.

Question 76

What is 'departmentalisation'?

Question 77

Authority is the power of management to command others to follow orders.

Question 78

Functional departmentalisation's strength lies in its focus on assembling teams of specialists.

Question 79

What is 'span of control'?

Question 80

Work specialisation is closely associated with division of labour.