Deck 11: Organizational Structure and the Implementation of Strategy

Question 1

Why would an ambidextrous organizational structure be difficult for traditional hierarchical managers to organize?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

List four conditions under which a multidivisional functional structure is well suited for a firm.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

List three advantages of the multidivisional structure for large, diversified firms.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

List five conditions under which a functional structure is well suited for a firm.

Question 5

What is the benefit of the division of labor to an organization?

Question 6

An emphasis on _______________ goals can do much to reduce conflict among employees, departments, and business units.

A) Departmental
B) Group
C) Personal
D) Superordinate
E) None of these

Question 7

_______________ integrated firms require a high degree of centralization.

A) Backwardly
B) Forwardly
C) Horizontally
D) Vertically
E) None of these

Question 8

________________ strategies rely heavily on centralization.

A) Cost leadership
B) Differentiation
C) Focus
D) Related diversification
E) Unrelated diversification

Question 9

___________ is the tendency for cross-functional team members to believe that every decision needs to be made as a group.

A) Consensus seeking
B) Group concordance
C) Groupitis
D) Groupthink
E) Siloed thinking

Question 10

A manager asking his superior to approve the department's weekly production report is an example of which of the following?

A) Culture
B) Hierarchical reporting relationships
C) Information systems and flows of information moving through organizations
D) Policies, standard operating procedures, and control systems
E) None of these

Question 11

Discuss the limitations associated with the adoption of a multidivisional structure by a firm.

Question 12

Discuss how the transfer pricing dilemma affects the supplying and buying divisions within a multidivisional firm.

Question 13

List three arguments for outsourcing as a value chain restructuring alternative for firms.

Question 14

Discuss why structuring an organization for specialization can be detrimental to the management of knowledge workers.

Question 15

Explain what is meant by the statement that "almost all organizational structures tend to produce false images in the decision maker."

Question 16

Why do organizations rarely have more than eight hierarchical levels?

Question 17

Why is a decentralization of decision making in organizations likely to lead to better decisions?

Question 18

How can a strong organizational culture become a competitive disadvantage to a firm?

Question 19

Discuss how a strong organizational culture can substitute for supervisory activity.

Question 20

List three drawbacks to adopting a matrix or cross-functional structure.

Question 21

List three conditions under which a matrix or cross-functional structure is most appropriate.

Question 22

Why do multidivisional structures result in a short-term focus for managers and an undesirable level of competition for resources among divisions?

Question 23

_____________ is/are both the most visible and the most widely studied component of structure.

A) Hierarchy
B) Functional structures
C) Multidivisional structures
D) Cross-functional or matrix structures
E) Divisionalization

Question 24

All businesses share which of the following characteristics?

A) Division of labor
B) Hierarchy
C) Decisions based on rules, policies, and standard operating
D) procedures
E) The tendency to become inflexible and resist change
F) All of these

Question 25

Organizational structure has taken on added importance because of the changing nature of work.

Question 26

Multidivisional structures are based on the reality that many firms consist of several distinct operating segments or businesses, or geographical regions.

Question 27

Functional structures tend to overload top managers.

Question 28

Without responsibility for generating revenue, employees in profit centers can develop morale and motivation problems.

Question 29

An advantage of functional structures is that most information flows up through functional "chimneys" before flowing across to another functional department.

Question 30

Functional structures are best suited to firms competing in undifferentiated markets.

Question 31

The concept of structure does not include any mechanisms that facilitate the formulation and implementation of strategy and the overall coordination of the business enterprise.

Question 32

An organization's culture or its "informal structure" can be just as important as, if not more important than, its formal hierarchical structure.

Question 33

The concept of span of control refers to the levels of managerial decision-making activity in an organization's structure.

Question 34

The concept of hierarchical levels refers to the number of subordinates reporting to a manager.

Question 35

Organizational capabilities are the unique ways in which each organization structures its work and motivates its people to achieve clearly articulated strategic objectives.

Question 36

The multidivisional structure can create an accountability problem.

Question 37

Adopting the multidivisional structure allows a firm to get rid of its corporate staff.

Question 38

Conflict or disagreements can make an organization particularly vulnerable to groupthink.

Question 39

Bad news moves more slowly through organizations than does good news.

Question 40

When employees internalize their company's success and view themselves as "winners" who work for a "winning" organization, there is no need for a strong company culture.

Question 41

An organization's culture reflects the myths and realities surrounding a founder or a key leader of the company.

Question 42

The automatic or reflexive use of policies, procedures, and systems helps minimize ambiguity and promotes rapid decision making.

Question 43

The benefit of highly routinized policies and procedures is that they can make a firm very responsive to changes in its competitive environment.

Question 44

Learning and experience is reflected in an effective set of policies, procedures, and systems that influence, guide, and monitor firm performance.

Question 45

Making strategic tasks, such as performance monitoring and the review of investment proposals, routinized can never harm organizational effectiveness.

Question 46

Most organizational behavior is highly routinized in order to increase efficiency and reduce variability.

Question 47

Divisional cash flows in the multidivisional firm are always sent to the corporate treasury.

Question 48

Organizational structure is a powerful tool for achieving competitive advantage.