Deck 5: Interorganizational Relationships

Question 1

Major reasons for interorganizational collaboration include all of the following except:

A) sharing risks when entering new markets.
B) mounting expensive new programs and reducing costs.
C) enhancing organizational profile in selected industries.
D) interpersonal factors.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Established organizations have a difficult time adapting to a rapidly changing environment because:

A) they don't--that's not a true statement.
B) of heavy investment in plant and equipment and an established viewpoint of leadership that has been successful.
C) when the environment changes, no one could predict that the changes will affect them.
D) leadership could change, but does not want to change.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

____ focuses on organizational diversity and adaptation within a population of organizations.

A) Collaborative networks
B) Population ecology
C) Interorganizational relationships
D) Institutional perspective

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following refers to managing the sequence of suppliers and purchasers, covering all stages of processing from obtaining raw materials to distributing finished goods to consumers?

A) Operations management
B) Supply chain management
C) Resource management
D) Variation

Question 5

A basic assumption of the population ecology model is that:

A) management competence is the biggest factor in the survival of organizations.
B) the environment determines which organizations survive or fail.
C) principles of evolution are not applicable to organizations because the fittest don't survive.
D) a community of organizations is a closed system.

Question 6

In resource dependence theory:

A) a small supplier should count on price competition for locking in accounts.
B) a small supplier should lock in a single large company for the bulk of its sales.
C) organizations will do whatever is needed to avoid dependence on the environment for reducing uncertainty.
D) organizations will set up dependencies when they become more self-reliant.

Question 7

A system formed by the interactions of a community of organizations and their environment is referred to as a(n):

A) interorganizational relationship.
B) organizational ecosystem.
C) collaboration network.
D) institutional environment.

Question 8

The ____ perspective is when companies join together to become more competitive and to share scarce resources.

A) collaborative-network
B) resource-dependence
C) population-ecology
D) institutional

Question 9

Which theory argues that organizations try to minimize their reliance on other organizations for the supply of important resources and try to influence the environment to make resources available?

A) Interorganization theory
B) Environmental resource theory
C) Resource dependence theory
D) Economic supply theory

Question 10

____ is an organization's specific technology, structure, products, goals, and personnel, which can be selected or rejected by the environment.

A) Organizational form
B) Selection
C) Niche
D) Resource-dependence

Question 11

The new orientation to interorganizational relationships involves which of the following characteristics?

A) Equity and fair dealing
B) Contract limits the relationship
C) Minimal up front investment
D) Efficiency, own profits

Question 12

In this new world, managers think about ____ rather than vertical structures.

A) profit-making
B) stakeholders
C) horizontal processes
D) competition

Question 13

Which of the following is true about the struggle for existence, a principle underlying the population ecology model?

A) Specialists are able to reallocate resources internally to adapt to a changing environment, whereas generalists are not.
B) Generalists are more competitive than specialists in the narrow area in which their domains overlap.
C) The toy company Mattel, which markets a broad range of toys, is considered a specialist.
D) The struggle is most intense among new organizations, and survival frequencies are related to environmental factors.

Question 14

Relatively enduring resource transactions, flows, and linkages that occur among two or more organizations are called:

A) the Intranet.
B) interorganizational relationships.
C) resource dependence.
D) institutional environment.

Question 15

The adversarial orientation to interorganizational relationships involved which of the following characteristics?

A) Short-term contracts
B) Long-term contracts
C) High dependence
D) Business assistance beyond the contract

Question 16

The third perspective, which examines how new organizations fill niches left open by established organizations and how a rich variety of new organizational forms benefits society, refers to

A) population ecology.
B) resource-dependence theory.
C) collaborative networks.
D) institutionalism.

Question 17

An organizational niche:

A) once found, makes the process of retention occur.
B) is a person within an organization who is highly specialized.
C) is a domain of unique environmental resources and needs.
D) is found only in Japanese organizations.

Question 18

Which of the following is not part of the framework of interorganizational relationships?

A) Population ecology
B) Institutionalism
C) Collaborative network
D) Shared competition

Question 19

All of the following except ____ are elements of the population ecology model of organizations.

A) retention
B) variation
C) legitimacy
D) selection

Question 20

The traditional orientation to interorganizational relationships involved which of the following characteristics?

A) Long-term contracts
B) Involved in partner's product design and production
C) Legal resolution of conflict
D) Electronic linkages to share key information

Question 21

Which of the following is not one of the frameworks of interorganizational relationships?

A) Institutionalism
B) Resource dependence
C) Legitimacy
D) Collaborative network

Question 22

Mimetic forces would include the perspective that:

A) because of heavy interorganizational linkages, organizations are forced to behave similarly in order to maintain productive relationships.
B) political and governmental processes, to which organizations are subjected, force organizations to become similar.
C) in the face of uncertainty, organizations copy or model each other.
D) diversity is maintained in order for organizations to find and maintain a marketing niche.

Question 23

Which of the following from the institutional view is true about the two essential dimensions of organization?

A) The institutional structure is that part of the organization most visible to the outside public.
B) The public dimension is governed by norms of efficiency.
C) The technical dimension will reflect environmental expectations rather than the demand of work activities.
D) The formal structure and design process is rational with respect to workflow and products.

Question 24

Organizations with a wide niche or domain, that is, those that offer a broad range of products and services or that serve a broad market are:

A) specialists.
B) generalists.
C) niches.
D) legitimate.

Question 25

A similar concept to the organizational ecosystem is the _____ approach, in which businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations join together across sectors and industries to tackle huge, compelling problems of mutual interest.

A) specialist
B) legitimacy
C) generalist
D) megacommunity

Question 26

With coercive forces, the reason for adaptation is:

A) dependence.
B) duty.
C) uncertainty.
D) professionalism.

Question 27

____ are pressures to change to achieve standards of professionalism and to adopt techniques that are considered by the professional community to be up to date and effective.

A) Coercive forces
B) Mimetic forces
C) Normative forces
D) Legitimacy forces

Question 28

The adversarial orientation to interorganizational relationships involved which of the following characteristics?

A) Limited information and feedback
B) Trust
C) Loose performance measures
D) Long-term contracts

Question 29

Geisinger Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare, and Group Health Cooperative believe that using and sharing digitized patient records can help healthcare providers make smarter decisions and provide better care, such as referring a patient to a specialist in another system. This is an example of which of the following?

A) A collaborative-network
B) Resource dependence
C) Normative forces
D) Retention

Question 30

The ____ is composed of norms and values from stakeholders.

A) institutional environment
B) population ecology
C) organizational ecosystem
D) institutional isomorphism

Question 31

Institutional similarity would include the perspective that:

A) common structures emerge among organizations in the same field.
B) common training of professionals (managers) results in common analytic processes among organizations in the same field.
C) divergent structures are driven among organizations in the same field for the sake of diversity.
D) divergent analytic processes among organizations in the same field emerge because of managers' training in widely varying functional areas and varying degree programs.

Question 32

The institutional view argues that:

A) organizations do not have legitimacy from their stakeholders.
B) a market-based economy was not constructed in the Soviet Union because such institutions were corrupt.
C) when an organizational field is just getting started, diversity is the norm, but later there is a push for similarity.
D) organizations have two essential dimensions--institutional and public.

Question 33

Coercive forces result in:

A) efficiency.
B) professionalism.
C) effectiveness.
D) the appearance of legitimacy.

Question 34

An example of mimetic force is:

A) reengineering.
B) accounting standards.
C) pollution controls.
D) consultant training.

Question 35

Benchmarking is:

A) a mimetic process.
B) a coercive process.
C) inappropriate, because it results in copyright infringement.
D) required by law.

Question 36

____ is defined as the general perspective that an organization's actions are desirable, proper, and appropriate within the environment's system of norms, values, and belief.

A) Generalist strategy
B) Legitimacy
C) Niche
D) Collaborative network

Question 37

In the population-ecology model of organizations, _____ means the appearance of new, diverse forms in a population of organizations.

A) Retention
B) Selection
C) Variation
D) Legitimacy

Question 38

The social basis for normative forces is:

A) legal.
B) culture.
C) moral.
D) diversity.

Question 39

A company may use any or all of the mechanisms of mimetic, coercive, or normative forces to change itself for greater ____ in the institutional environment.

A) profit
B) market share
C) resource dependency
D) legitimacy

Question 40

An event for coercive force is:

A) professionalism.
B) innovation.
C) environmental visibility.
D) political law.

Question 41

In the positive view of partnerships, dependence on another company is seen to increase risk rather than reducing it.

Question 42

In population ecology theory, large dependent companies have power over small suppliers.

Question 43

The prevailing philosophy is that organizations consider themselves autonomous and separate, trying to outdo other companies so that they can grow and prosper.

Question 44

A niche is a domain of unique environmental resources and needs.

Question 45

Many companies are changing from a partnership orientation mindset to a traditional adversarial.

Question 46

Resource-dependence management refers to managing the sequence of suppliers and purchasers.

Question 47

Variation, formation, and selection are the stages in the process of change in the environment.

Question 48

Collaboration is being practiced as companies join together to become more competitive as a block.

Question 49

In the changing role of management, managers think about vertical processes rather than horizontal structures.

Question 50

The population ecology perspective claims that large companies cannot adapt to meet a changing environment, so new companies emerge with the appropriate form and skills to serve new needs.

Question 51

The population-ecology model is developed from theories of natural selection in biology, and the terms retention and variation are used to refer to the underlying behavioral processes.

Question 52

The four perspectives of a framework of interorganizational relationships include resource dependency, population ecology, collaborative network, and reengineering.

Question 53

The population ecology perspective tells us that even institutionalized organizations like McDonald's are not permanent in the long run.

Question 54

In the population ecology perspective, generalist and specialist strategies distinguish organizational forms in the struggle for survival.

Question 55

The major reasons for collaboration are sharing risks when entering new markets, mounting expensive new programs and reducing costs, and enhancing organizational profile in selected industries or technologies.

Question 56

Generalists are generally more competitive than specialists in the narrow area in which their domains overlap.

Question 57

Given their flexibility, specialists are able to reallocate resources internally to adapt to a changing environment whereas generalists are not.

Question 58

The resource dependence perspective argues that while organizations may attempt to control environmental resources, they also try to maintain their independence.

Question 59

The population ecology focuses on organizational diversity and adaptation within a population of organizations.

Question 60

Within business ecosystems, managers learn to move beyond traditional responsibilities of corporate strategy and designing hierarchical structures and control systems.

Question 61

Coercive forces mean that organizations change to achieve standards of professionalism.

Question 62

Frenemies refers to the trend toward companies being both friends and enemies, collaborators and competitors.

Question 63

Organizations around the world are embedded in complex networks of confusing relationships--collaborating in some markets, competing fiercely in others.

Question 64

Describe the framework of interorganizational relationships, using the following two questions to help guide your answer: If organizational relationships are competitive, under what perspectives are the organization types similar versus dissimilar? If organizational relationships are cooperative, under what perspectives are the organization types similar versus dissimilar?

Question 65

A principle that underlies the population ecology model is the struggle for existence, or competition.

Question 66

What kind of education and training do you think would help prepare you for the reality of being a manager who has to manage a set of interorganizational relationships beyond managing internal affairs of your own company?

Question 67

Because of the diversity of products, services, and customers, generalists are able to reallocate resources internally to adapt to a changing environment whereas specialists are not.

Question 68

North American companies have long traditions of corporate clans or industrial groups that collaborate and assist each other while both Japanese and Korean companies have traditionally worked alone.

Question 69

In resource-dependence theory, large, independent companies have power over small suppliers.

Question 70

Legitimacy is defined as the general perception that an organization's actions are desirable, proper, and appropriate within the environment's system of norms, values, and beliefs.

Question 71

How have managers' viewpoints and focuses changed in this new world?

Question 72

In the population-ecology model of organizations, selection refers to the preservation and institutionalization of selected organizational forms.

Question 73

Normative forces are pressures to change to achieve standards of professionalism and to adopt techniques that are considered by the professional community to be up to date and effective.

Question 74

Mimetic forces refer to the similarity that is brought between organizations from environmental influences such as governmental laws and legislative requirements.

Question 75

The institutional perspective explains why organizational diversity continuously increases with the appearance of new organizations filling niches left open by established companies.

Question 76

Institutional similarity is the emergence of a common structure and approach among organizations in the same field.

Question 77

The outcome of mechanisms of mimetic, coercive, or normative forces is that organizations become more heterogeneous to reflect the natural diversity among managers and environments.

Question 78

Most collaborative managers are skilled in handling operations roles, which have traditional vertical authority and are accountable for business results primarily through direct control over people and resources.

Question 79

What is an "organizational ecosystem?" How does this concept impact the changing role of management?

Question 80

Why is the following question asked in the context of a discussion on interorganizational relationships: "Is competition dead?"