Deck 13: Organizational Structure

Question 1

Division of labor leads to increased job specialization.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Concurrent engineering can be used to encourage informal communication as a coordinating mechanism.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A narrower span of control is consistent with the trend towards employee involvement and teamwork.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Generally, a narrow span of control is necessary where employees perform highly interdependent work with others.

Question 5

When work activities are too complex to standardize through extensive training for employees, companies need to coordinate work effort through precise job descriptions.

Question 6

An organization's structure is mainly its organizational chart.

Question 7

Job descriptions, goal setting, and training are applications of coordination through standardization.

Question 8

Standardizing processes is less effective in non-routine and complex work.

Question 9

Informal communication is a coordination mechanism only in small and a few medium-sized organizations.

Question 10

Large organizations can encourage informal communication as a coordinating mechanism by keeping each workplace small.

Question 11

The formal hierarchy can be used to coordinate the work of front-line workers and executives through the division of organizational activities.

Question 12

Integrator roles increase informal communication as a coordinating mechanism.

Question 13

Informal communication as a coordinating mechanism is ineffective in non-routine situations.

Question 14

One of the main benefits of formal hierarchy as a coordinating mechanism is that it increases flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs.

Question 15

The two fundamental requirements of all organizational structures are divisionalization and decentralization.

Question 16

Job descriptions and training are examples of coordination through standardization.

Question 17

When work is divided among people, a coordinating mechanism is needed to ensure that everyone works in concert.

Question 18

Organizational structures are tools for change.

Question 19

Traditional management theorists set the maximum span of control at 20 people, but this number may be higher where work activities are routine and standardized.

Question 20

Formal hierarchy is the least time-consuming coordinating mechanism where employees work in non-routine and ambiguous situations.

Question 21

Departmentalization establishes interdependencies and coordination through informal communication within each work unit.

Question 22

Functional structures tend to have higher dysfunctional conflict and poorer coordination across units than other forms of departmentalization.

Question 23

As external environments become more complex and dynamic, organizational structures should become more mechanistic and less organic.

Question 24

One problem with departmentalization is that it discourages coordination through informal communication.

Question 25

Companies can be centralized in some parts of the organization and decentralized in other parts.

Question 26

The main reasons why companies are moving toward a flatter organizational structure are because it improves coordination through formal hierarchy.

Question 27

Organizations tend to centralize as their external environment becomes more complex.

Question 28

Tall hierarchies tend to encourage employee empowerment and engagement because they focus power around employees rather than managers.

Question 29

Most organizations begin with centralized structures and become more decentralized as they grow larger and divide work into more specialized functions.

Question 30

Divisional structures may be formed around products, geography, or functional specializations.

Question 31

Functional structures foster professional identity and permit greater specialization than most other forms of departmentalization.

Question 32

Organizations with fewer layers in the organizational hierarchy are described as having flat structures.

Question 33

The number of layers in an organization's hierarchy depends on the number of people employed and the average span of control.

Question 34

Span of control is interconnected with organizational size and the number of layers in the hierarchy.

Question 35

Span of control can be increased by introducing informal communication and other coordinating mechanisms.

Question 36

A mechanistic structure is decentralized, has a narrow span of control and little formalization.

Question 37

Organizations tend to become less formalized as they age and grow in number of employees.

Question 38

A simple structure is one of the best structures in which to accommodate organizational growth and diversification.

Question 39

Mechanistic structures operate best in stable environments.

Question 40

Formalization represents the establishment of standardization as a coordinating mechanism.

Question 41

An organic structure works better than a mechanistic structure where tasks have high variety and low analyzability.

Question 42

Decentralization is the preferred strategy for organizations in simple, integrated (one market) and hostile environments.

Question 43

Organizations move towards a team-based structure by flattening the hierarchy, reducing formalization, and making extensive use of self-directed work teams.

Question 44

Employees working at the matrix level have two bosses.

Question 45

One of the main forces pushing organizations towards a network structure is the recognition that an organization has only a few core competencies.

Question 46

A problem with the divisional organizational structure is that it does not allow the organization to grow within that structure.

Question 47

One problem with the divisional structure is that it increases the risk of duplication and underutilization of resources.

Question 48

Larger firms tend to be more centralized and make greater use of direct supervision than do smaller firms.

Question 49

Organic structures are better suited to dynamic environments than to stable environments.

Question 50

One problem with the team-based organizational structure is that employees may experience more stress due to ambiguity of their roles.

Question 51

In a typical network structure, several satellite organizations are bee-hived around a core firm.

Question 52

The more diversified the environment, the more the firm would benefit from a divisionalized form of departmentalization.

Question 53

Team-based organizational structures are usually found within larger divisionalized structures.

Question 54

The primary source of environmental diversity or uncertainty mainly determines the best form of divisional structure an organization should adopt.

Question 55

Companies with divisionalized structures are increasingly adopting the geographically-based structure.

Question 56

Some matrix structures typically overlay a divisional structure with a functional structure to gain the benefits of both.

Question 57

The best organizational structure depends on the variety and analyzability of the tasks.

Question 58

One of the main advantages of network structures is that they ensure the core organization has a high degree of control over production, marketing and other functions.

Question 59

Conflict and ambiguity associated with the matrix structure causes some employees to experience more stress.

Question 60

Network structures come close to the perfect example of a mechanistic organizational structure.

Question 61

All organizations have:

A)a formal hierarchy that includes supervisors and non-supervisory employees.
B)a divisionalized structure.
C)some form of coordinating mechanism.
D)a mechanistic structure.
E)both 'A' and 'C'.

Question 62

Which of the following is a coordinating mechanism?

A)Training.
B)Clarifying work procedures.
C)Informal communication.
D)All of these are coordinating mechanisms.
E)None of these is a coordinating mechanism.

Question 63

Coordination through formal hierarchy relies on:

A)informal communication.
B)job descriptions.
C)goals and objectives.
D)direct supervision.
E)both 'B' and 'D'.

Question 64

Dividing work into more specialized jobs tends to:

A)increase training costs.
B)reduce work efficiency.
C)reduce the opportunity to match people with appropriate jobs.
D)do all of the above.
E)do none of the above

Question 65

Which of the following is NOT a coordinating mechanism?

A)Job descriptions
B)Informal communication
C)Centralization
D)Sales targets
E)Extensive training

Question 66

Coordination of work activities is required:

A)whenever there is division of labor.
B)only in team-based organizations.
C)whenever the organization has more than approximately 100 employees.
D)only when organizations operate in complex environments.
E)never; coordination of work activities is not found in organizations.

Question 67

As organizations grow, which of the following does NOT typically occur?

A)Informal communication becomes more prevalent as a coordinating mechanism.
B)There is increasing division of labor.
C)The organization becomes more decentralized.
D)The organization becomes more formalized.
E)There is increasing job specialization.

Question 68

Which coordinating mechanism is typically most important among people working in hospital surgical operations?

A)Direct supervision
B)Integrator roles
C)Job descriptions
D)Extensive training
E)People working in surgical operations do not use any coordinating mechanism

Question 69

All organizational structures have the following two fundamental requirements:

A)flatter span of control and decentralization.
B)division of labor and coordination.
C)decentralization and divisionalization.
D)coordination and decentralization.
E)centralization and outsourcing.

Question 70

Dividing work into more specialized jobs tends to:

A)increase training costs.
B)reduce work efficiency.
C)reduce the opportunity to match people with appropriate jobs.
D)do all of these things.
E)do none of these things.

Question 71

Integrator roles do which of the following?

A)They increase formalization and centralization.
B)They support informal communication as a coordinating mechanism.
C)They reduce the need for virtual corporations.
D)They increase the amount of formal hierarchy.
E)They do none of these things.

Question 72

To increase work efficiency and make it easier to match employee competencies with job requirements, companies tend to:

A)divide work into more specialized jobs.
B)rely on formal hierarchy as a coordinating mechanism.
C)rely on a narrow span of control.
D)centralize decision making.
E)rely on formal hierarchy AND a narrow span of control.

Question 73

Organizations that follow a cost leadership strategy should apply an organic organizational structure.

Question 74

Organizational strategy influences both the contingencies of structure and the structure itself.

Question 75

Standardizing work through job descriptions and procedures:

A)is a form of coordination.
B)is more common when the work is complex and ambiguous.
C)tends to reduce quality and consistency.
D)is unnecessary in large organizations.
E)is more common in organic rather than mechanistic structures.

Question 76

A widely accepted scholarly view of an organization's structure and its environment is that organizational decision makers can choose the environments in which they want to operate.

Question 77

Contingencies, such as size, technology, and environment do not necessarily determine an organization's structure.

Question 78

In organizational structures, integrator roles serve mainly as:

A)a form of standardization
B)an informal communication coordinating mechanism
C)a form of direct supervision
D)one of four types of technology
E)the main element in divisionalized structures

Question 79

As soon as people divide work among themselves, they need to:

A)centralize.
B)decentralize.
C)form a team-based organizational structure.
D)rely increasingly on a simple structure.
E)rely on one or more coordinating mechanisms.

Question 80

An organizational chart mainly illustrates which type of coordinating mechanism?

A)Formal hierarchy
B)Informal communication
C)Standardization of skills
D)Standardization of output
E)None of these