Deck 4: Organizational Theory

Question 1

Which of the following is an acceptable approach to building a more effective organization according to the humanist approach?

A) deploying principal-agent theory
B) strong adherence to scientific management
C) sensitivity training
D) adherence to the bureaucratic model

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The scientific management movement placed too much emphasis on efficiency and too little emphasis on ______.

A) hierarchy
B) workers' satisfaction
C) authority
D) legitimacy

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The structural approach and systems theory fail to account for ______.

A) authority
B) efficiency
C) hierarchy
D) workers' happiness

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What is considered to be the basic building block of large administrative enterprises?

A) pluralism
B) organization
C) structure
D) bureaucracy

Question 5

What condition (or reality) does Kettl argue that challenges classical and bureaucratic models of organization?

A) milieu of deficit politics
B) hierarchical structure
C) interwoven relationships between sectors
D) horizontal management

Question 6

Efficiency has great value for the scientific management movement as well as for ______.

A) the classical model
B) the formal approach
C) the third-party approach
D) the pluralist approach

Question 7

The traditional and dominant model of organizational theory is the ______.

A) hierarchical approach
B) pluralist approach
C) government-by-proxy approach
D) humanist approach

Question 8

Organizational culture emphasizes which apparent reality amount agencies?

A) hierarchy and authority
B) scientific management
C) organizational differences
D) top-down authority

Question 9

The structural approach and systems theory fail to account for ______.

A) the boundaries of each department
B) an organization's purpose
C) third parties
D) authority

Question 10

Structural approaches are criticized for all of the following reasons EXCEPT ______.

A) they are too third-party dependent
B) they are too authoritarian
C) they are too employee centered
D) they lack political understanding

Question 11

Network analysis assumes that organizations help one another because they believe what?

A) Cooperation advances their goals.
B) Profit is important.
C) Special interests will dominate.
D) in bureaucrats

Question 12

Self-interested is an assumption of which of the following schools of thought?

A) systems theory
B) network analysis
C) principal-agent theory
D) the scientific management movement

Question 13

The pluralist approach emphasizes interest groups whereas the humanist approach emphasizes ______.

A) third parties
B) contracts
C) employees
D) hierarchy

Question 14

Weber's models of legitimate authority include all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) humanist authority
B) traditional authority
C) charismatic authority
D) rational-legal authority

Question 15

A doctrine of the classical school states that organizations can be structured according to all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) purpose
B) clientele
C) process
D) structure

Question 16

All of the following are challenges to structural perspectives and systems theory EXCEPT ______.

A) the hierarchical challenge
B) the humanist challenge
C) the pluralist challenge
D) the government-by-proxy challenge

Question 17

Systems theory is concerned with all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) system boundaries
B) agency jurisdiction
C) principals and agents
D) system purpose

Question 18

Legitimacy, or the ability to make decisions within constitutionally defined limits, is most closely associated with what?

A) power
B) authority
C) structure
D) bureaucracy

Question 19

Principal-agent theory assumes all of the following EXCEPT that ______.

A) work provides rewards
B) individuals are self-interested
C) officials and workers operate through contracts
D) bureaucrats are irrational

Question 20

The humanist approach emphasizes leadership, whereas the pluralist approach emphasizes ______.

A) employees
B) interest groups
C) third parties
D) bureaucrats

Question 21

All of the following are propositions in line with administration as being a structure of authority EXCEPT ______.

A) principals and agents; narrow, defined specialization
B) internal specialized structure; rules of the game
C) carte blanche; specialists
D) experts; outside definition of roles

Question 22

Which traditional approach to bureaucracy is based on authority and hierarchy?

A) systems theory
B) pluralist approach
C) bureaucratic model
D) third party

Question 23

______ is the central problem of political societies who must determine who has it and how it is distributed.

A) Power
B) Structure
C) Bureaucracy
D) Organization

Question 24

What is organizational culture?

A) the ethos and philosophy that shape the behavior of individuals within an organization
B) the arrangement of elements within an organization
C) part of organizational theory that holds that the relationships among individuals, especially when motivating employees, is very important
D) an emphasis on the personal magnetism of the leader in an organization

Question 25

Organizational similarity to a machine is most akin to which school or thought or theory?

A) closed-system theory
B) time and motion analysis
C) open-system theory
D) network analysis

Question 26

Organizational similarity to a biological organism is most akin to which school of thought or theory?

A) closed-system theory
B) principal-agent theory
C) open-system theory
D) behavioral studies

Question 27

Of the following choices, ______ studies how an organization interacts with its environment through inputs, throughputs, and outputs.

A) systems theory
B) the humanist approach
C) the third-party approach
D) the formal approach

Question 28

Compared with traditional hierarchical authority, network analysis is ______.

A) much older
B) in its relative infancy
C) useless
D) market based

Question 29

Which describes the relationship of higher-level units to lower-level units within an organization?

A) chain of command
B) flexibility and control
C) command and control
D) decision points

Question 30

Scholars debate whether networks constitute an approach, a theory, a method, or prescription, but there is rising recognition of the power of ______ approaches to public administration.

A) negative
B) collaborative
C) legal actor
D) decentralized

Question 31

Time and motion studies were associated with all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) Frederick Taylor
B) efficiency
C) humanist approaches
D) structural approaches

Question 32

Of the following choices, ______ is based on conflict.

A) systems theory
B) the pluralist approach
C) the structural approach
D) the formal approach

Question 33

The scientific management movement placed too much emphasis on ______ and too little emphasis on human behavior and workers' satisfaction.

A) hierarchy
B) efficiency
C) authority
D) legitimacy

Question 34

Gulick and ______ represent the structural approach.

A) Argyris
B) Taylor
C) Weber
D) McGregor

Question 35

What provides the foundation for agency power?

A) expert leaders
B) the president
C) Congress
D) constitutional foundations

Question 36

Weber argued that officials should be ______, salaried, and selected on the basis of ______.

A) elected; nepotism
B) full-time; technical qualifications
C) elected; political contributions
D) part time; education

Question 37

What focuses primarily on information and incentives for using it?

A) bureaucracy
B) principal-agent theory
C) performance-based budgeting
D) network analysis

Question 38

Rational-legal authority is most closely associated with ______.

A) Max Plank
B) Max Weber
C) Charles Perrow
D) charismatic authority

Question 39

______ rests on the personal devotion to an individual because of the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of this person.

A) Traditional authority
B) Rule of law
C) Policymaking
D) Charismatic authority

Question 40

The delegation of authority from officials at the top to individuals at the bottom is ______.

A) hierarchical bureaucracy
B) pluralist bureaucracy
C) humanist bureaucracy
D) government-by-proxy bureaucracy

Question 41

In what ways have Gulick and Weber contributed to the structural approach?

Question 42

The formal approach is most concerned with workers' happiness.

Question 43

The ______ rooted in the dynamics of human relations, condemns the impersonality of bureaucratic hierarchies and so pleads for the humanizing of organizations.

A) Taylor approach
B) humanist approach
C) contractual approach
D) organizational structure

Question 44

Briefly describe the humanist approach.

Question 45

Systems theory emphasizes the effect of interest groups on an organization.

Question 46

What can the humanist, pluralist, and formal approaches contribute to organizational theory?

Question 47

Briefly describe the meaning of interweaving.

Question 48

What is central to the classical theory of organization?

Question 49

Each theory embodies a significant truth about government organizations.

Question 50

In light of principal-agent theory, briefly describe the relationship among contracts, superiors, and subordinates.

Question 51

How have structural approaches been criticized?

Question 52

The central problem for organizing government is how to distribute power.In an answer that adheres to the discussion in the text, discuss the concepts of authority and hierarchy as they fit into the legitimacy of governmental power.

Question 53

What is the concept of organizational culture and why is it important? To what approach does it belong? Do you believe that it has a place in administration of public sector agencies?

Question 54

In Weber's mind, on what principal does bureaucratic organization hinge?

Question 55

Weber's scholarship became widely studied by U.S.public administration scholars in the ______.

A) 1980s
B) 1890s
C) time of Woodrow Wilson's presidency
D) 1940s

Question 56

The structural approach is concerned with hierarchy and authority.

Question 57

Although differences exist among approaches to organizational theory, what conclusions can we draw about the overall contribution of these approaches to the field of public administration?

Question 58

Generally, there is consensus among scholars on the approach to organization that works best and is the best fit to the public sector.

Question 59

The weakness of these approaches stems from overgeneralization.

Question 60

How does open-system theory interact with the environment?