MBA 560 Ch 5 – Flashcards
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1) Organizational design is the process in which managers change or develop an organization's structure.
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TRUE
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2) There are four basic elements in organizational structure.
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FALSE
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3) The original ideas about organizational design formulated by Fayol and Weber are now largely obsolete.
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FALSE
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4) When work specialization originally began to be implemented early in the twentieth century, employee productivity initially rose.
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TRUE
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5) Today, most managers see work specialization as a source of ever-increasing productivity.
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FALSE
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6) The advantage of work specialization is that it tends to result in high employee motivation and high productivity.
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FALSE
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7) Departmentalization is a how jobs are grouped.
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TRUE
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8) Staff authority is the ability to direct the work of any employee who does not have a higher rank in the organization.
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...
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9) Grouping jobs on the basis of major product areas is termed customer departmentalization.
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FALSE. Product depart
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10) Line authority can be exerted only after a manager checks with his or her superior.
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...
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11) Unity of command prevents an employee from trying to follow two conflicting commands at once.
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TRUE
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12) Power is a right that a manager has when he or she has a higher rank in an organization.
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TRUE. Authority
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13) When decisions tend to be made at lower levels in an organization, the organization is said to be centralized.
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FALSE
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14) Traditional organizations are structured in a pyramid, with the power and authority located in the pyramid's broad base.
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FALSE
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15) The two prevalent organization structure models in today's world are the organic organization and the inorganic organization.
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FALSE
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16) A mechanistic organization is bureaucratic and hierarchical.
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TRUE
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17) An organic organization tends to be flexible and have few formal rules.
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TRUE
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18) Innovators need the efficiency, stability, and tight controls of a mechanistic structure rather than an organic structure.
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FALSE
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19) The relationship between organizational size and structure tends to be linear.
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TRUE
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22) The stability of a mechanistic structure seems to work best in today's dynamic and uncertain business environment.
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...
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23) The strength of a simple system is that everything depends on a single person.
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TRUE
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24) A strength of a functional structure is that it avoids duplication.
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FALSE
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25) A weakness of the divisional structure is that duplication tends to occur.
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TRUE
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26) In a team structure, team members are not held responsible for their decisions.
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FALSE
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28) When an employee in a matrix structure finishes a project, she goes back to her functional department.
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TRUE
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29) Employees in an organization with a matrix design can have two bosses for the same job.
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TRUE
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30) A significant advantage of the matrix structure is the clear chain of command from top to bottom of the organization.
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FALSE
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31) When an employee in a project structure finishes a project, he goes back to his original department.
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FALSE
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32) Vertical boundaries separate employees by their rank in an organization.
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TRUE
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35) Managers want to eliminate boundaries in organizations primarily to increase stability and reduce flexibility.
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TRUE
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36) Horizontal boundaries separate employees by the specialization of their job.
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TRUE
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38) All learning organizations share a distinct structure.
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FALSE
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39) A company's organizational culture refers to a system of shared political beliefs.
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TRUE
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41) An organization's founder has little influence on its culture.
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TRUE
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42) Strong organizational culture can eliminate the need for rules and bylaws.
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TRUE
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44) All of the following are part of the process of organizational design EXCEPT ________.
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D) determine goals for the organization
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46) Which of the following is synonymous with work specialization?
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A) division of labor
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48) Early supporters of work specialization saw it as ________.
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A) a reliable way to increase productivity
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51) Functional departmentalization groups jobs by ________.
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A) tasks they perform
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52) ________ departmentalization is based on territory or the physical location of employees or customers.
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C) Geographic
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54) What kind of departmentalization would be in place in a government agency in which there are separate departments that provide services for employers, employed workers, unemployed workers, and the disabled?
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A) product
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55) State motor vehicle offices usually use this kind of departmentalization.
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D) process
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56) The line of authority that extends from the upper levels of management to the lowest levels of the organization is termed the ________.
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A) chain of responsibility
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57) The chain of command answers this question.
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D) Who reports to whom?
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58) Authority gives an individual the right to do this.
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A) give orders
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59) In the chain of command, each person above you ________.
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C) has line authority
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61) Line authority gives a manager the ability to direct the work of ________.
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B) any subordinate
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62) ________ prevents a single employee from getting conflicting orders from two different superiors.
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B) Unity of command
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64) Which of the following statements is true?
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C) Authority is a right.
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65) ________ is the obligation or expectation to perform a duty.
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A) Responsibility
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67) Which of the following statements is true?
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C) Authority is a type of power.
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69) As represented in a hierarchical organization diagram, authority is based on ________.
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B) horizontal position only
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70) A construction site supervisor who sees an impending thunderstorm and tells workers to go home is demonstrating ________.
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...
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71) ________ is the power that rests on the leader's ability to punish or control.
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B) Coercive power
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72) A bank manager who passes out bonuses at the end of the year is exercising this.
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A) reward power
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74) ________ is the power that arises when a person is close to another person who has great power and authority.
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B) Referent power
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76) The traditional view holds that managers should not directly supervise more than ________ subordinates.
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B) five or six
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77) Modern managers find that they can ________ if their employees are experienced, well-trained, and motivated.
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A) increase their span of control
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78) A traditional "top down" organization is ________ organization.
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A) a largely centralized
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79) ________ reflects the degree to which decision making is distributed through out the hierarchy rather than concentrated at the top.
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D) Decentralization
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80) In recent years, organizations have become more ________ to be responsive to a dynamic business environment.
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B) decentralized
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81) In today's decentralized business world, ________ the most important strategic decisions.
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C) lower-level managers
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82) All of the following are characteristics of a highly formalized organization EXCEPT ________.
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C) minimum number of rules
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83) Today's managers are moving away from formalization and trying to be this.
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B) more flexible
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84) Today's managers expect employees to ________.
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B) use discretion when it comes to following rules
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85) A(n) ________ organization has a high degree of specialization, formalization, and centralization.
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D) mechanistic
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88) Which term best describes an organic organization?
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C) flexible
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89) Which word best characterizes a mechanistic organization?
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A) hierarchical
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90) Strategy, size, technology, and the degree of uncertainty in the environment together make up what are called ________.
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A) contingency variables
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91) Together, contingency variables determine the ________.
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C) structure of an organization
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92) A company that is pursuing a cost leadership strategy would be most likely to have this kind of structure.
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A) mechanistic
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93) A company that is trying to be a leader in innovation within its industry would be most likely to have this kind of structure.
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B) organic
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98) Woodward concluded that a mechanistic structure worked best for a firm that used ________.
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B) mass production
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99) In Woodward's study, this type of production combined high vertical differentiation and low horizontal differentiation.
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C) process production
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100) The greater the environmental uncertainty, the more an organization needs to become ________.
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A) organic
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101) Global competition forces firms to ________.
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A) become lean, fast, and flexible
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102) Traditional organizational designs tend to be more mechanistic and include ________.
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D) simple, functional, and divisional structures
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103) A simple structure is ________ like a mechanistic organization, but ________ like an organic organization.
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A) centralized; informal
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104) What is a strength of a simple structure?
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C) Accountability is clear.
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106) This is a key characteristic in an organization with a functional structure.
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B) departmentalization
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107) This is a weakness of a functional structure.
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A) favoring functional goals over organizational goals
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108) Avoiding redundancy is a strength of which structure?
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C) functional
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109) In a ________ structure each business unit has complete autonomy to reach its goals.
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B) functional ????
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112) As the number of employees in an organization grows, structure tends to become more ________.
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A) bureaucratic
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113) Looking for ways to make their organization more flexible and innovative, today's managers may choose this kind of structure.
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D) team
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114) In a team structure, ________.
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B) there is no clear line of managerial authority
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118) In a matrix structure, a group member will typically report to ________.
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B) both a project manager and functional department head
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119) When a group member in a matrix structure finishes a project, she ________.
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A) returns to her functional department
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120) By giving employees two direct superiors, a matrix structure violates this key element of organizational design.
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B) chain of command
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121) A key difference between a team structure and a matrix structure is that a team structure ________ while a matrix structure does not.
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D) holds group members accountable
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127) How does a virtual organization save on costs?
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D) by keeping only a small permanent staff for administrative purposes only
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128) A ________ subcontracts part of a project out to outside suppliers.
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D) network organization
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131) A learning organization requires employees to ________.
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D) share information and collaborate with one another
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133) Organizational learning can't take place without ________.
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C) a shared vision of the future
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135) Which of the following phrases best characterizes the culture of an organization?
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B) how things are done around here
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138) Which of the following is NOT considered to be a characteristic of organizational culture?
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C) purchasing policies
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141) All of the following show why corporate rituals can be valuable in a corporate culture EXCEPT ________.
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D) rituals intimidate and silence critics of the corporate culture.
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142) Which of the following most accurately reflects the difference between strong cultures and weak cultures?
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D) Company values are more deeply held and widely shared in strong cultures than in weak cultures.
