Deck 1: Organizations and Organizational Theory

Question 1

Which statement best characterizes an organization?

A) It is a goal-directed entity that has members who set goals and achieve them through strategic planning.
B) It is an entity with identifiable permanent boundaries.
C) It is goal-directed social entity that has a deliberately structured activity system and a permeable boundary
D) It is a business that performs work activities and contributes to its society by employing people

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following is one of the elements of organizational design?

A) culture
B) management
C) structure
D) technology

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is the key element that makes an organization an organization and not just a group of individuals?

A) buildings and policies
B) people and their relationships
C) profits
D) facilities location

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is characteristic of an open system and its subsystem?

A) a transformation process that involves production, maintenance, adaptation, and management
B) an input selection known for being so accurate that it can be closed
C) subjective output criteria
D) boundary spanners connect employees to products and to organizational subsystems

Question 5

Which term refers to the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into separate jobs?

A) formalization
B) specialization
C) professionalism
D) centralization

Question 6

Which one of Mintzberg's basic parts of an organization deals with functions such as human resources, organizational development, the employee cafeteria, and maintenance staff?

A) technical support
B) human infrastructure
C) administrative support
D) top management

Question 7

According to the textbook, why are organizations important to society?

A) They create value for owners, customers, and employees.
B) They establish important relationships with the government.
C) They reduce transactions costs.
D) They divide the resources needed for achieving desired goals and outcomes.

Question 8

What does the term technical core refer to?

A) computer hardware that runs information processing in the organization
B) people who do the basic work of the organization, producing product and service outputs
C) administrators who run the organization
D) top management who have been promoted from within and thereby know the inner core of organizational processes

Question 9

Which of the following provides a description of the internal characteristics of an organization?

A) contextual dimensions
B) contingency analysis
C) organizational dynamics
D) structural dimensions

Question 10

Which statement provides the best generic description of what an organization does?

A) It acquires inputs from the environment, transforms them, and discharges outputs back to the environment.
B) It operates its transformation processes independently from its environment.
C) It attempts to shield its transformation processes from the environment.
D) It focuses on the efficiency of its input acquisition and its transformation processes.

Question 11

Managers of nonprofit organizations deal with many diverse stakeholders. Who must they market their services to in addition to donors and clients?

A) shareholders
B) volunteers
C) charitable organizations
D) employees

Question 12

From which of the following sources do nonprofit organizations usually get their resources?

A) government grants
B) selling shares
C) investment income
D) selling goods and services

Question 13

Which subsystem would the surgery department in a hospital belong to?

A) production
B) boundary spanning
C) maintenance
D) management

Question 14

Which statement best describes an open system?

A) Outputs are continuously reused in a sustainable cycle of production and consumption.
B) Inputs are received from the environment, transformed and then returned to the environment.
C) All the energy it needs is contained within itself.
D) Products and services are used to make inputs.

Question 15

Which of the following structural dimensions is best represented by the 385-page book McDonald's uses to describe all rules and procedures in each of its stores?

A) learning theory
B) sequential interdependence
C) formalization
D) specialization

Question 16

Which of the following goals drives organizations?

A) profitability
B) maintaining organizational stability
C) innovation
D) developing change

Question 17

According to the textbook, why do organizations exist?

A) to bring in a profit
B) to develop advanced manufacturing and information technologies
C) to challenge diversity, ethics, and the motivation and coordination of employees
D) to facilitate innovation

Question 18

Which of the following is the subsystem responsible for directing and coordinating other parts of the organization?

A) the technical core
B) management
C) human resources
D) accounting

Question 19

Which of the following is a component of organizational subsystems?

A) boundary subsystems responsible for exchanges with the external environment
B) maintenance subsystems responsible for keeping production facilities in operating order
C) human subsystems that serve as employees
D) technical subsystems that become the basis for information processing

Question 20

Which of the following is one of Mintzberg's five basic parts of an organization?

A) administrative core
B) computer infrastructure
C) top management support
D) middle management

Question 21

Which of the following refers to how the organization actually produces the products and services it provides for customers and includes flexible manufacturing, advanced information systems, and the Internet?

A) size of the organization
B) organizational technology
C) organizational goals
D) organizational culture

Question 22

Which statement best characterizes scientific management?

A) It used scientifically tested methods of motivation to improve organizational performance.
B) It is an outgrowth of the Hawthorne studies, which found that people performed best in an environment of clearly specified, narrow job task.
C) It focuses on effectiveness rather than efficiency.
D) It is successful at increasing output, in part through the use of incentive systems.

Question 23

Which statement best describes organizational behaviour?

A) It is the same as the study of organizational theory.
B) It is a macro analysis of the whole organization.
C) It is focused on people, structure, and environment.
D) It is a micro approach focusing on the individual.

Question 24

Which of the following refer(s) to the deployment of people to various functions and departments?

A) professionalization
B) specialization
C) personnel ratios
D) hierarchy of authority

Question 25

According to the textbook, what does the term contingency refer to?

A) Organizations should be structured loosely.
B) Management structure is determined by the era or times.
C) One thing depends on other things, such as structure depending on environment.
D) Designing and managing organizations on an impersonal, rational basis.

Question 26

In today's world, which of the following do savvy managers recognize?

A) They cannot measure, predict, or control their environment.
B) Centralized structures help them cope with organizational demands.
C) They do the "thought" work while employees perform the labour.
D) Leadership is based on thoroughness of written documents.

Question 27

Interpretations of which of the following concluded that positive treatment of employees improved their motivation and productivity?

A) administrative principles
B) stakeholder approaches
C) scientific management
D) the Hawthorne studies

Question 28

John Black, a management consultant, successfully implemented an MBO program on his first consulting job. He now recommends MBO to all his clients. In so doing, what aspect of organizational design would the textbook say he is ignoring?

A) the latest techniques for solving problems
B) the principles of contingency theory
C) the external environment of the organization
D) the internal environment of the organization

Question 29

At what level is the primary level of analysis in organizational theory done?

A) environmental
B) organizational
C) departmental
D) individual

Question 30

Which statement best describes the learning organization?

A) They place high value on problem solving.
B) They emphasize training as the essential value.
C) They engage people in sessions focused on finding maximum organizational efficiency.
D) They facilitate better decision-making when the environment is unstable.

Question 31

Which of the following is a contextual, rather than a structural, dimension of an organization?

A) labour force
B) culture
C) professionalism
D) centralization

Question 32

What is demonstrated in the comparison of EllisDon and Tim Hortons in the textbook's "In Practice" activity?

A) Larger organizations need to have tight controls at the top.
B) Successful organizations can have very different strategies and goal emphases.
C) A moderate to high level of formalization is crucial to an organization's success.
D) Centralization is necessary in organizations when they face high levels of competition.

Question 33

Which of the following describes the degree to which an organization achieves its goals?

A) effectiveness
B) efficiency
C) organizational strategy
D) stakeholder profitability

Question 34

Which of the following emphasize designing and managing organizations on an impersonal, rational basis through such elements as clearly defined authority and responsibility, formal record keeping, and uniform application of standard rules?

A) administrative principles
B) scientific management
C) bureaucracy
D) hierarchy

Question 35

Which of the following integrates diverse organizational activities by looking at various constituents and what they want from the organization?

A) contextual dimensions
B) organizational culture
C) efficiency
D) stakeholder approach

Question 36

A closed system would be autonomous, enclosed, and sealed off from the outside world, whereas an open system consumes resources and exports resources to the environment.

Question 37

In a learning organization, what is used to encourage openness, equality, continuous improvement, and change?

A) empowerment
B) the culture
C) strategy
D) the structure

Question 38

Which statement best describes contextual and structural dimensions?

A) They represent only the external environment.
B) They are centralization and personnel ratios.
C) They represent only the organizational characteristics.
D) They provide a basis for the measurement and analysis of characteristics that cannot be seen by the casual observer.

Question 39

Which statement best describes organizational behaviour?

A) It is a micro approach to organizations, focusing on individuals
B) It focuses on the whole organization as a unit of analysis
C) It is an "umbrella" that encompasses the study of organizational theory.
D) It is a subset of organizational theory.

Question 40

What did scientific management, pioneered by Frederick Taylor, claim decisions about organizations and job design should be based on?

A) scientific procedures after careful study of individual situations
B) insights of practitioners
C) leadership, motivation, and human resource management
D) management theory

Question 41

Outputs of an organization include employees, raw materials and other physical resources, information, and financial resources.

Question 42

The stakeholder approach integrates diverse organizational activities by looking at various organizational stakeholders and what they want from the organization.

Question 43

Common structural variables studied as dimensions of organizations are goals, culture, and environment.

Question 44

The classical perspective of organizational design sought to make organizations run like learning organizations in a turbulent environment.

Question 45

The eleven contextual and structural dimensions are NOT dependent on each other.

Question 46

Scientific management focused on primarily the technical core, whereas administrative principles focused on the design and functioning of the organization as a whole.

Question 47

In the transformation process, "output" deals with financial resources.

Question 48

For much of the 20th century, organizations operated in a world that was relatively stable, but today the environment can be characterized as turbulent.

Question 49

A key element of an organization is a building or set of policies and procedures, not the people and their relationships.

Question 50

The amount of written documentation in the organization is called formalization.

Question 51

An organization's culture is usually contained in the written policy manual.

Question 52

Scientific management focused on the total organization and grew from the insights of practitioners.

Question 53

The underlying set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by employees is referred to as an organization's culture.

Question 54

Contingency means that one thing depends on other things, and for organizations to be effective, there must be a "goodness of fit" between their structure and the conditions of their external environment.

Question 55

The structural dimensions of organization design are formalization, specialization, culture, environment, hierarchy of authority, professionalism, and goals and strategy.

Question 56

Usually, an organization can easily satisfy the demands of all of its stakeholders simultaneously.

Question 57

Organizations today have rigid boundaries separating them from other organizations.

Question 58

Research has shown that the assessment of multiple stakeholder groups is an accurate reflection of organizational effectiveness, especially with respect to organizational adaptability.

Question 59

Because of the Hawthorne Studies, a revolution in worker treatment took place and laid the groundwork for subsequent work examining treatment of workers, leadership, motivation, and human resource management.

Question 60

Efficiency refers to the amount of resources used to achieve the organization's goals, whereas effectiveness refers to the degree to which an organization achieves its goals.

Question 61

Define effectiveness and discuss why it is sometime difficult for organizations to be effective.

Question 62

Why is shared information so important in a learning organization as compared to an efficient performance organization? Discuss how an organization's approach to information sharing might be related to other elements of organizational design, such as structure, tasks, strategy, and culture.

Question 63

What is meant by saying that an organization is a system?

Question 64

In the learning organization, the vertical structure that creates distance between managers at the top and workers in the technical core is disbanded.

Question 65

What is the role of administrative principles in the era of learning organizations?

Question 66

Describe the difference between formalization and specialization. Is it possible for an organization to be high in one and low in the other or vice versa?

Question 67

The primary level of analysis in organizational theory is first-line supervision.

Question 68

Discuss why the Hawthorne Studies are so important to today's organizations and their workers.

Question 69

Discuss chaos theory.

Question 70

Henry Mintzberg suggests that there are five parts to every organization. List and describe each of these five parts.

Question 71

List the seven reasons organizations exist.

Question 72

Early management theorists believed that organizations should strive to be logical and rational, with a place for everything and everything in its place. Discuss the pros and cons of this approach for today's organizations.

Question 73

Organization theory is a macro examination of organizational activity, emphasizing structure and behaviour at the organization level of analysis.

Question 74

In the learning organization, everyone knows how the organization works and how everything fits together.

Question 75

Defend this statement: Diversity is a fact of life that no organization can afford to ignore.

Question 76

Define an open system. Describe and illustrate the open system in action.

Question 77

Describe the learning organization in terms of its five elements of organizational design: structure, tasks, systems, culture, and strategy.

Question 78

Name and define any two structural dimensions and any two contextual dimensions.

Question 79

What differences might one expect among stakeholder expectations for a nonprofit organization versus a for-profit business? Do you think nonprofit managers have to pay more attention to stakeholders than do business managers? Discuss.

Question 80

Compare and contrast traditional organizations and learning organizations.