Deck 12: Organisational Structure and Design

Question 1

The degree to which tasks in an organisation are divided into separate jobs is division of labour.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The classical view of unity of command suggests that subordinates should have only one superior to whom they report.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The concept of work specialisation can be traced back a couple of centuries to Adam Smith's discussion of division of labour.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Organisational structure involves decisions about six key elements.

Question 5

According to the textbook, a(n)________ is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation.

A)mission statement
B)environmental scan
C)internal resource analysis
D)organisational structure
E)functional division

Question 6

Geographic departmentalisation has greatly increased in importance as a result of today's competitive business environment.

Question 7

Organisational design is based on decisions about ________.

A)work specialisation and departmentalisation
B)chain of command and span of control
C)centralisation and decentralisation
D)both A and B
E)all of the above

Question 8

Departmentalisation known as functional is based on groups located in the same territory or region.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT one of the six key elements in organisational design?

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

Question 10

Authority is the obligation or expectation to perform a duty.

Question 11

Decentralisation describes the degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organisation.

Question 12

When decisions tend to be made at lower levels in an organisation, the organisation is said to be decentralised.

Question 13

Responsibility is the rights inherent in a managerial position.

Question 14

A group of individuals who are experts in various specialties and who work together is a cross-functional team.

Question 15

Authority is the individual's capacity to influence decisions.

Question 16

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

Question 17

Organisational design is the organisation's formal framework by which job tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated.

Question 18

A manager's span of control refers to the number of subordinates who can be effectively and efficiently supervised.

Question 19

Grouping jobs on the basis of product or customer flow is termed customer departmentalisation.

Question 20

Authority is synonymous with responsibility.

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT a form of departmentalisation suggested by your textbook?

A)functional departmentalisation
B)product departmentalisation
C)geographical departmentalisation
D)process departmentalisation
E)technological departmentalisation

Question 22

Sales responsibilities divided into south-east Australia, eastern Australia, north-east Australia, middle Australia and Western Australia would be an example of ________ departmentalisation.

A)product
B)geographic
C)process
D)outcome
E)customer

Question 23

The term ________ is used to describe the degree to which tasks in an organisation are divided into separate jobs.

A)work ethics
B)managerial capitalism
C)social responsibility
D)work specialisation
E)functional design

Question 24

What type of departmentalisation expects that each department will specialise in one specific phase of the process or product production?

A)product
B)geographic
C)process
D)outcome
E)customer

Question 25

Standardisation refers to the degree to which jobs within the organisation are standardised and the extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and procedures.

Question 26

What kind of departmentalisation would be in place in a government organisation where different public service responsibilities are divided into activities for employers, children and the disabled?

A)product
B)geographic
C)process
D)outcome
E)customer

Question 27

The ________ is the continuous line of authority that extends from upper organisational levels to the lowest levels and clarifies who reports to whom.

A)chain of demand
B)chain of command
C)demand hierarchy
D)continuous design structure
E)none of the above

Question 28

A local manufacturing organisation has groups of employees who are responsible for sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, etc.These are examples of what concept?

A)authority
B)chain of command
C)empowerment
D)departmentalisation
E)social grouping

Question 29

Today's business environment has greatly increased the use of what type of departmentalisation?

A)geographic
B)customer
C)product
D)process
E)outcome

Question 30

Bringing together the company's legal counsel, research engineer and marketing specialist for a project is an example of a(n)________.

A)empowered team
B)process departmentalisation
C)product departmentalisation
D)cross-functional team
E)continuous improvement team

Question 31

________ entitles a manager to direct the work of a subordinate.

A)Responsibility
B)Legitimate power
C)Rank
D)Operating responsibility
E)Authority

Question 32

________ departmentalisation has been used in recent years to better monitor the needs of clients and to respond to changes in those needs.

A)Needs-based
B)Functional
C)Process
D)Customer
E)Orderly

Question 33

________ is the basis on which jobs are grouped in order to accomplish organisational goals.

A)Departmentalisation
B)Centralisation
C)Formalisation
D)Coordination
E)Efficiency

Question 34

Work specialisation is also known as ________.

A)departmentalisation
B)centralisation
C)span of control
D)formalisation
E)division of labour

Question 35

Grouping sporting equipment in one area, men's clothing in another area and cosmetics in a third area is an example of what kind of departmentalisation?

A)customer
B)product
C)geographic
D)process
E)outcome

Question 36

To whom a worker reports concerns which aspect of organisational structure?

A)chain of command
B)departmentalisation
C)pay structure
D)line of command
E)authority framework

Question 37

Recently, there has been a trend of organisations moving toward increased decentralisation.

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT an example of the classical view of work specialisation?

A)assembly-line production
B)McDonald's
C)traditional General Motor's assembly plant
D)organic organisations
E)Ford

Question 39

According to the textbook, managers are using ________, which are groups of individuals who are experts in various specialties and who work together.

A)specialised teams
B)cross-demanded teams
C)cross-functional teams
D)multi-skilled teams
E)simple structured teams

Question 40

Grouping activities on the basis of customer flow is ________.

A)functional departmentalisation
B)product departmentalisation
C)geographical departmentalisation
D)process departmentalisation
E)technological departmentalisation

Question 41

The ________ principle (one of Fayol's 14 principles of management)helps preserve the concept of a continuous line of authority.

A)unity of demand
B)unity of command
C)unity of direction
D)demand structure
E)continuous demand

Question 42

An organic organisation would likely be very flexible.

Question 43

A high-tech manager who supervises the development of a new computer chip needs ________ compared to a manager who supervises the mailing of unemployment insurance checks at the local government office.

A)about the same span of control
B)a narrower span of control
C)a wider span of control
D)a more informal span of control
E)elimination of the span of control

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a mechanistic organisation?

A)high specialisation
B)wide spans of control
C)high formalisation
D)limited information network
E)extensive departmentalisation

Question 45

________ describes the degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organisation.

A)Decentralisation
B)Centralisation
C)Transnationalism
D)Formalisation
E)Cross-sectional analysis

Question 46

Other things being equal, the wider or larger the span of control, the more ________ the organisational design.

A)bureaucratic
B)democratic
C)effective
D)efficient
E)classical

Question 47

What type of organisational form follows classical principles such as clear chain of command?

A)organic
B)linear
C)decentralised
D)mechanistic
E)adhocracy

Question 48

In a short essay, list six factors that influence the amount of centralisation and six factors influence the amount of decentralisation in an organisation.

Question 49

The ________ organisational structure is characterised by high specialisation, extensive departmentalisation, narrow spans of control and high formalisation.

A)mechanistic
B)organic
C)contingency
D)adhocracy
E)functional

Question 50

All of the following factors indicate that a decentralised organisation would be most effective EXCEPT when ________.

A)the environment is complex
B)decisions are relatively minor
C)the organisation is facing a crisis
D)the company is geographically dispersed
E)effective implementation of strategies depends on managers having involvement and flexibility to make decisions

Question 51

If lower-level employees provide input or are actually given the discretion to make decisions, the organisation is more ________.

A)formalised
B)centralised
C)decentralised
D)mechanistic
E)organic

Question 52

________ refers to the degree to which jobs within the organisation are standardised and the extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and procedures.

A)Standardisation
B)Centralisation
C)Chain of command
D)Strategy
E)Formalisation

Question 53

Which of the following factors would NOT influence an organisation to have a higher degree of centralisation?

A)Environment is stable.
B)Company is geographically dispersed.
C)Company is large.
D)Decisions are significant.
E)Organisation is facing a crisis.

Question 54

Wider spans of control may be viewed as more efficient, but eventually, wider spans tend to have what effect on organisations?

A)reduced effectiveness
B)increased turnover
C)loss of managerial power
D)customer dissatisfaction
E)rigid chains of command

Question 55

In general, span of control is ________ for managers.

A)increasing
B)decreasing
C)staying the same
D)significantly decreasing
E)no longer important

Question 56

An organic organisation tends to be characterised by high specialisation, extensive departmentalisation, narrow spans of control, high formalisation, a limited information network and little participation in decision making by low-level employees.

Question 57

Which of the following factors describes an environment in which a high degree of decentralisation is desired?

A)The environment is complex and uncertain.
B)Lower-level managers do not want to have a say in decisions.
C)Decisions are significant.
D)The company is large.
E)The organisation is facing a crisis or the risk of company failure.

Question 58

Recently, there has been a distinct trend toward ________.

A)smaller spans of control
B)decentralised decision-making
C)decreased flexibility
D)emphasis on chain of command
E)mechanistic organisations

Question 59

Span of control refers to which of the following concepts?

A)how much power a manager has in the organisation
B)the geographic dispersion of a manager's subunits of responsibility
C)how many subordinates a manager can effectively and efficiently supervise
D)the number of subordinates affected by a single managerial order
E)the amount of time it takes to pass information down through a manager's line of command

Question 60

________ is the obligation to perform assigned activities.

A)Authority
B)Responsibility
C)Chain of command
D)Unity of command
E)Formalisation

Question 61

Appropriate organisational structure is contingent on four variables: the organisation's strategy, size, technology and degree of environmental uncertainty.

Question 62

Structure is related to the size of the organisation, in that larger organisations usually have more ________.

A)specialisation
B)departmentalisation
C)centralisation
D)both A and B
E)all of the above

Question 63

Which of the following is an accurate statement about organisational structure and strategy?

A)Strategy should follow structure.
B)Strategy and structure are equal in temporal importance.
C)Strategy and structure are not linked.
D)Structure should follow strategy.
E)Mechanistic and organic organisations have distinct differences in the application of the relationship between strategy and structure.

Question 64

Most current strategy-structure contingency frameworks tend to focus on three strategy dimensions.These dimensions are ________.

A)revenue maximisation, customer satisfaction and visibility
B)customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and ethics
C)innovation, cost minimisation and imitation
D)legal considerations, profit maximisation and innovation
E)long-term survival, profit maximisation and customer satisfaction

Question 65

According to Woodward's studies, what type of production works best with a mechanistic structure?

A)unit
B)process
C)product
D)mass
E)just-in-time

Question 66

Innovators need the efficiency, stability and tight controls of the mechanistic structure.

Question 67

A characteristic that both unit production and process production have is that the most effective organisational structure for both technologies is ________.

A)organic
B)mechanistic
C)adhocracy
D)matrix
E)team

Question 68

The three production categories that Joan Woodward divided organisations into in order to uncover relationships between organisational structure and technology are ________.

A)unit, mass and process
B)unit, product and cost
C)product, cost and customer
D)mass, process and cost
E)process, unit and product

Question 69

Which of the following is NOT one of the four contingency variables that help determine appropriate organisational structure?

A)organisational size
B)organisational strategy
C)organisational technology
D)organisational age
E)degree of environmental uncertainty

Question 70

Joan Woodward's research was the first major attempt to view organisational structure from a ________ perspective.

A)strategic
B)contingency
C)size
D)departmental
E)technological

Question 71

Woodward's findings support that there is 'one best way' to organise a manufacturing firm.

Question 72

In recent restructuring of the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, where the lab scientists set priorities and allocate resources, the change has helped produce an entrepreneurial environment akin to a smaller biotechnology outfit.This is an example of what type of organisation?

A)bureaucratic
B)mechanistic
C)volatile
D)nouvelle
E)organic

Question 73

All of the following are characteristics of an organic organisation EXCEPT ________.

A)narrow spans of control
B)cross-hierarchical teams
C)free flow of information
D)low formalisation
E)cross-functional teams

Question 74

The relationship between organisational size and structure tends to be linear.

Question 75

Joan Woodward attempted to view organisational structure from a technological perspective.

Question 76

Woodward demonstrated that organisational structures adapted to their technology.

Question 77

In a short essay, discuss the characteristics of mechanistic and organic organisations.

Question 78

What kind of relationship is there between organisational size and degree of mechanistic structure?

A)-1.0
B)unclear
C)positive
D)bimodal
E)exponential

Question 79

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that would suggest unit production would be a best 'fit'?

A)low horizontal differentiation
B)low vertical differentiation
C)small-batch, custom products
D)low formalisation
E)mechanistic structure

Question 80

Which of the following would likely be found in mechanistic organisations?

A)wide span of control
B)empowered employees
C)decentralised responsibility
D)few rules and/or regulations
E)standardised job specialties