Deck 10: Designing Adaptive Organizations

Question 1

Staff departments perform tasks that reflect the organization's primary goal and mission.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Strategy defines what to do; organizing defines how to do it.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The right to advise, recommend, and counsel in the staff specialists' area of expertise is included in staff authority.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The duty to perform the task or activity an employee has been assigned is called accountability.

Question 5

Despite the apparent advantages of specialization, many organizations are moving away from this principle.

Question 6

Organizing defines what to do while strategy defines how to do it.

Question 7

People in management positions have formal authority to direct and control immediate subordinates.

Question 8

The number of employees reporting to a supervisor is his or her span of management.

Question 9

The basis for grouping positions into departments and departments into the total organization is referred to as departmentalization.

Question 10

The principle of unity of command suggests that managers within an organization should reach agreement on the goals and objectives of the organization.

Question 11

The framework in which the organization defines how tasks are divided, resources are deployed and departments are coordinated is called organizational structure.

Question 12

Certainty in the environment is usually associated with decentralization.

Question 13

Given the challenges to meet customer needs and adapt to the environment, most organizations today discourage managers to delegate authority to the lower levels.

Question 14

The right to use resources, make decisions and issue orders in an organization is authority.

Question 15

Organizing is the deployment of organizational resources to achieve strategic goals.

Question 16

The idea that organizations develop a well-defined line of authority in the organization that includes all employees is suggested by the virtual network approach.

Question 17

The trend in recent years has been toward narrower spans of control as a way to facilitate delegation.

Question 18

The flip side of the authority coin is responsibility.

Question 19

A visual representation of an organization's structure, showing communication and lines of power is called a structure graph.

Question 20

A flat structure is characterized by a relatively few hierarchical levels and a correspondingly narrow span of management.

Question 21

The modular approach is similar to virtual networking.

Question 22

The divisional structure fosters excellent coordination within divisions, but coordination across divisions is often poor.

Question 23

The organization, in a virtual network approach to structure, becomes a small broker and departments are independent contracting services to the broker for a profit.

Question 24

A cross-functional team normally has two or more groups of employees who are in continuing conflict because of a difference in goals and values.

Question 25

Coordination is the quality of collaboration across departments.

Question 26

In functional structures, divisions are created as self-contained units with separate functional departments for each division.

Question 27

Aspects of both functional and divisional structures simultaneously in the same part of the organization are combined in the virtual network approach.

Question 28

Because the chain of command converges at the top, the functional structure provides a way to decentralize decision making and provide unified direction from all managers.

Question 29

Flexibility and competitiveness on a global scale are the biggest advantage of the virtual network approach to structure.

Question 30

Two contemporary approaches to departmentalization are the use of teams and groups.

Question 31

The confusion and frustration caused by the dual chain of command is the major problem of the matrix structure.

Question 32

Designing team relationships does not help overcome shortcomings in a functional, top-down approach to organizing.

Question 33

Two chains of command exist, with top priority given to the team managers, in a matrix approach to departmentalization.

Question 34

Quick response to external changes is an advantage of vertical functional structure.

Question 35

At Creative Expressions, departments are grouped together into separate self-contained groups based on common products and product lines. This is an example of departmental approach.

Question 36

One of the disadvantages of team approach is that employees often experience conflicts and dual loyalties.

Question 37

The functional structure offers a way to decentralize decision making and provide direction from the teams in the field.

Question 38

At Owl End, people are grouped together in departments by common skills and work activities, including a sales department and a production department. This is an example of vertical functional approach.

Question 39

The functional structure is sometimes called a product, a program, or self-contained unit structure.

Question 40

The nature of the virtual network structure means that the subcontractor becomes a permanent part of and an internal division of the organization.

Question 41

Mass production involves a type of technology characterized by the production of a large volume of products with the same specifications.

Question 42

A loose, horizontal structure in a stable environment is inefficient.

Question 43

When the primary goal is innovation and flexibility, the functional structure is appropriate.

Question 44

Law firms, airlines, advertising firms and amusement parks are examples of service firms.

Question 45

Two contingency factors affecting structure are strategic goals and the environment.

Question 46

The level to which complex machinery is involved in the production process at the same level as people is called the technical complexity.

Question 47

In the international arena, coordination is especially important.

Question 48

Consumer technology is technology characterized by intangible outputs and direct contact between employees and customers.

Question 49

An organized group of related tasks and activities that work together to transform inputs into outputs and create value is called a process.

Question 50

A rigid, vertical structure in an uncertain environment prevents the organization form adapting to change.

Question 51

A task force is a permanent team designed to solve short-term problems.

Question 52

The type of technology that involves mechanization of the entire workflow and nonstop production is called continual flow production, according to Woodward.

Question 53

The pure functional structure is appropriate for achieving internal efficiency goals.

Question 54

Reengineering basically means preserving the past by establishing the sequence of activities by how work was done.

Question 55

A vertical structure that emphasizes specialization and centralization is appropriate when environmental uncertainty is high.

Question 56

According to MANAGER'S SHOPTALK in Chapter 10, the attempt by top management to decentralize decision making often gets bogged down because middle manager are unable to delegate.

Question 57

Technology includes the knowledge, tools, techniques, and activities used to transform organizational inputs into outputs.

Question 58

Environmental uncertainty causes decision-makers to have difficulty acquiring good information and predicting external changes.

Question 59

Reengineering, sometimes called business change reengineering, is the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, and speed.

Question 60

In continuous process production, the entire workflow is mechanized.

Question 61

The organization chart

A) shows the characteristics of the organization's vertical structure.
B) is a visual representation of the organization's structure.
C) details the formal reporting relationships that exist within an organization.
D) all of these.
E) both shows the characteristics of the organization's vertical structure and is a visual representation of the organization's structure.

Question 62

Boundarylessness occurs where information and work activities flow freely among various organizational participants.

Question 63

The formal and legitimate right of a manager to make decisions is

A) delegation.
B) responsibility.
C) authority.
D) span of management.
E) leadership.

Question 64

Unity of command and the scalar principle are both closely related to the

A) amount of work specialization in an organization.
B) degree of formalization.
C) chain of command.
D) amount of bureaucracy in the organization.
E) matrix structure.

Question 65

Digital technology is characterized by use of the Internet and other digital processes to conduct or support business online.

Question 66

__________ is also referred to as work specialization.

A) Division of labor
B) Unity of command
C) Scalar chain
D) Esprit de corps
E) virtual network approach

Question 67

Strategy defines __________ to do (it) while organizing defines __________ to do (it).

A) how; what
B) how; why
C) what; how
D) what; why
E) when; what

Question 68

According to Unlocking Innovative Solutions Through PEOPLE in Chapter 10, Imagination Ltd. has a culture for teamwork based on the culture of "you can articulate your ideas without fear."

Question 69

When an organization uses Porter's cost leadership strategy, it strives for internal efficiency.

Question 70

Organizational structure includes which of these?

A) The set of formal tasks assigned to individuals
B) The set of formal tasks assigned to departments
C) The design of systems to ensure effective coordination of employees across departments
D) Formal reporting relationships
E) All of these are part of organizational structure.

Question 71

Organization structure is defined as the

A) visual representation of the organization.
B) framework in which the organization defined how tasks are divided, resources are deployed, and departments are coordinated.
C) division of labor.
D) unbroken line of authority that links all individuals in the organization.
E) none of these.

Question 72

__________ is the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into individual jobs.

A) Multitasking
B) Lines of authority
C) Work specialization
D) Autonomy
E) Team structure

Question 73

__________ refers to the deployment of organizational resources to achieve strategic goals.

A) Planning
B) Controlling
C) Organizing
D) Leading
E) Strategic management

Question 74

When work specialization is extensive

A) employees perform a single task.
B) employees perform many tasks.
C) employees are often highly challenged.
D) employees are often inefficient.
E) jobs tend to be large.

Question 75

The people with authority and responsibility are subject to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command is called

A) delegation.
B) line authority.
C) staff authority.
D) accountability.
E) hierarchy.

Question 76

Velma works in the manufacturing department at Ice Sculptures. The work in Velma's department is low in task specialization. As a result, Velma

A) usually performs a single task.
B) does a variety of tasks and activities.
C) is often bored.
D) is rarely challenged.
E) generally goofs-off.

Question 77

Tyler was recently looking at his company's organization chart in an attempt to discover who reports to whom. Tyler is studying his organization's

A) degree of formalization.
B) amount of differentiation.
C) degree of centralization.
D) chain of command.
E) division of labor.

Question 78

Service technology is technology characterized by intangible outputs and direct contact between employees and customers.

Question 79

Which of these refers to a clearly defined line of authority in the organization that includes all employees?

A) Scalar principle
B) Unity of command
C) Work specialization
D) Division of labor
E) Span of management

Question 80

Which of these means that each employee is held accountable to only one supervisor?

A) Scalar principle
B) Unity of command
C) Work specialization
D) Division of labor
E) Span of management