Deck 7: Organization, teamwork, and Communication

Question 1

What is organizational culture and how is it expressed?

Answer 1

Organizational culture is a firm's shared values,beliefs,traditions,philosophies,rules,and role models for behavior.It can be expressed formally through an organization's mission statement,codes of ethics,memos,manuals,and ceremonies,but it is more commonly expressed informally.Examples of informal expressions of culture include dress codes (or the lack thereof),work habits,extracurricular activities,and stories.Employees often learn the accepted standards through discussions with co-workers.

Question 2

An advantage of functional departmentalization is that managers need only the skills that apply to their department's function.

Answer 2

True
Explanation: Each of these functions is managed by an expert in the work done by the department-an engineer supervises the production department;a financial executive supervises the finance department,etc.

Question 3

Dress codes,work habits,extracurricular activities,and stories are informal expressions of an organization's

A) grapevine.
B) lack of organization.
C) informality.
D) culture.
E) formality.

Answer 3

D
Explanation: Examples of informal expressions of culture include dress codes (or the lack thereof),work habits,extracurricular activities,and stories.

Question 4

Organizational culture is expressed informally through a firm's mission statement or code of ethics.

Question 5

Departmentalization is the division of labor into small,specialized tasks and the assignment of single tasks to employees.

Question 6

Organizational cultures that lack positive values may result in

A) excessive profits.
B) inefficient division of labor.
C) productive and motivated employees.
D) unproductive and indifferent employees.
E) happy customers.

Question 7

Which is not a means of formally expressing an organization's culture?

A) Ceremonies
B) Code of ethics
C) Mission statement
D) Manuals
E) Employee dress codes

Question 8

A department store's organizational structure defines the relationships between

A) salespersons and merchandise buyers.
B) credit managers and maintenance people.
C) department managers and customers.
D) maintenance people and salespersons.
E) all the individuals working together to achieve its objectives.

Question 9

Organizational structure is defined as

A) the arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization.
B) a group of people working together to achieve an objective.
C) the division of labor into small specific tasks.
D) the grouping of jobs into working units.
E) the grouping of working units into departments or divisions.

Question 10

Which of the following requires an increasing degree of organizing within an organization?

A) Profits
B) Sales
C) Growth
D) Decline
E) Aging

Question 11

An organization's shared values,beliefs,traditions,philosophies,rules,and role models for behavior represent its

A) formal organization.
B) information system.
C) organizational culture.
D) grapevine.
E) organizational manual.

Question 12

Which of the following is not part of organizational culture?

A) Values
B) Beliefs
C) Role models
D) Religion
E) Traditions

Question 13

Organizational structures are always explicitly defined.

Question 14

Disadvantages of product departmentalization are that it duplicates functions and does not focus on the organization's overall objectives.

Question 15

The rationalization for specialization is that people can perform several tasks more efficiently than just one.

Question 16

What is organizational structure? How does it develop?

Question 17

Organizational growth requires organizing different resources.

Question 18

The more complex organizations become,the more they need to develop formal structures to function efficiently.

Question 19

An organization's structure develops as managers assign tasks to work groups and specific individuals and coordinate the diverse activities required to attain organizational objectives.

Question 20

When managers assign work activities to groups and individuals and coordinate the diverse activities required to attain organizational objectives,they contribute to the development of organizational

A) structure.
B) informality.
C) spontaneity.
D) growth.
E) accountability.

Question 21

In decentralized organizations,lower-level managers have a good understanding of their external environment and need to react quickly to it.

Question 22

Small businesses commonly employ

A) line departmentalization.
B) customer departmentalization.
C) functional departmentalization.
D) product departmentalization.
E) geographical departmentalization.

Question 23

A company with many layers of managers is considered tall.

Question 24

A wide span of management is best when a manager and subordinates are not in close proximity.

Question 25

A company that has departments for marketing,finance,personnel,and production is organized by

A) product.
B) function.
C) territory.
D) customer.
E) geographic region.

Question 26

All of the following are approaches to departmentalization except

A) function.
B) product.
C) geographic region.
D) customer.
E) line.

Question 27

The benefits of division of labor were described in The Wealth of Nations by

A) Henry Ford.
B) John Adams.
C) Adam Smith.
D) Cyrus McCormick.
E) Sam Walton.

Question 28

Flat organizations have narrow spans of management.

Question 29

The rationale for job specialization is that

A) it is more efficient.
B) workers become less bored.
C) workers shift from one job to another.
D) workers have fewer injuries.
E) it improves quality.

Question 30

Which of the following concepts frees a manager to attend to matters that he or she is especially qualified to deal with?

A) Delegation of authority
B) Responsibility
C) Accountability
D) Knowledge
E) Education

Question 31

Many experts believe people can perform most efficiently if they master just one task rather than all tasks.A famous book that supports this point was published in 1776 and is titled

A) The Wealth of Nations.
B) The Principles of Scientific Management.
C) The Declaration of Independence.
D) The Prosperity of Specialization.
E) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Question 32

Joe is a copywriter in his company's marketing department.The copy for an ad placed in Time magazine for his company spelled the company's name wrong.Who is ultimately responsible for the mistake?

A) The copywriter
B) The marketing vice president
C) Time magazine
D) The customer
E) Nobody-things just happen

Question 33

What are some of the advantages of specialization? What are some of its disadvantages?

Question 34

_____ departmentalization arranges jobs around the needs of various types of customers.

A) Product
B) Functional
C) Geographical
D) Customer
E) Matrix

Question 35

If Juan's manager gives him an assignment without providing Juan with the resources to complete the assignment,Juan's manager is exhibiting improper

A) accountability.
B) organizational culture.
C) delegation of authority.
D) customer departmentalization.
E) centralization.

Question 36

Product departmentalization allows the coordination of all activities related to a product or product group and simplifies decision-making.

Question 37

What are the different means of organizational departmentalization? Be sure to give an illustrative example of each.

Question 38

If the type of departmentalization used by an organization tends to emphasize departmental units rather than the organization as a whole and decision making is slow,then these would be weaknesses indicative of _______ departmentalization.

A) territorial
B) functional
C) product
D) customer
E) process

Question 39

Accountability is the obligation employees have to carry out assigned tasks.

Question 40

Adam Smith illustrated improvements in efficiency through the application of

A) departmentalization.
B) specialization.
C) generalization.
D) registration.
E) delegation.

Question 41

Define delegation of authority and show its relationship to responsibility.

Question 42

An organization operating in a complex and unpredictable environment is likely to be _______ in order to improve responsiveness and enhance creativity.

A) highly centralized
B) decentralized
C) informal
D) formal
E) very productive

Question 43

Matrix structures are often complex and expensive,and can lead to confusion regarding who has the ultimate authority.

Question 44

Line structure is based on direct lines of authority from the top executive to the lowest level of employee.

Question 45

Which of the following organizational forms allows managers to take responsibility for the areas in which they specialize?

A) Line structure
B) Functional structure
C) Line-and-staff structure
D) Matrix structure
E) A committee

Question 46

Which of the following organizational forms is most likely to be complex and expensive?

A) Line structure
B) Functional structure
C) Line-and-staff structure
D) Matrix structure
E) Committee

Question 47

In a line-and-staff structure,staff managers do not have direct authority over line managers.

Question 48

Which of the following is not a basis for organizing using a multidivisional structure?

A) Geography
B) Project
C) Product
D) Customer
E) Function

Question 49

When the decisions of a company are very risky and low-level managers lack decision-making skills,the company will tend to

A) decentralize.
B) delegate.
C) centralize.
D) organize.
E) specialize.

Question 50

One of the things to consider when determining the appropriate span of management is

A) physical distances between subordinate and supervisor,and subordinate competence.
B) responsibilities of subordinate outside the organization.
C) organizational culture and ethical values.
D) the management style of the manager.
E) products that the company sells.

Question 51

Multidivisional structures are not good at allowing for delegation of authority,and therefore do not allow divisional and departmental managers a chance to specialize.

Question 52

An advantage of line structure in organizations is

A) a clear chain of command.
B) a high level of centralization.
C) shared decision making.
D) that managers possess a wide range of knowledge.
E) there are many layers.

Question 53

Companies that have flat organizations tend also to have

A) tall spans of management.
B) minimal spans of management.
C) narrow spans of management.
D) short spans of management.
E) wide spans of management.

Question 54

What is a span of management? What are the differences between organizations with wide versus narrow spans of management?

Question 55

An organizational form that is based on direct lines of authority from the top executive to the lowest level of employees is called

A) line structure.
B) functional structure.
C) line-and-staff structure.
D) matrix structure.
E) a committee.

Question 56

Multidivisional structures

A) are temporary.
B) organize departments into larger divisions,often based on geography,product,and/or customer.
C) bring together specialists from a variety of areas to work on a single project.
D) make slower decisions.
E) are less innovative but make quicker decisions.

Question 57

When superiors and subordinates are not in close proximity and the manager has many responsibilities in addition to supervision,the appropriate span of management would be

A) big.
B) wide.
C) narrow.
D) flat.
E) circular.

Question 58

Which of the following organizational forms is also called a project management structure?

A) Bureaucratic structure
B) Line structure
C) Multidivisional structure
D) Matrix structure
E) Line-and-staff structure

Question 59

A disadvantage of line structure is

A) an unclear chain of command.
B) the speed of decision making.
C) that there are no direct lines of authority.
D) that it is very uncommon.
E) that managers must possess a wide range of knowledge and skills.

Question 60

The line-and-staff structure divides general managing duties into functional areas,each with a separate supervisor.

Question 61

Teams can create more solutions for solving problems than individuals.

Question 62

Product-development teams are a special type of task force formed to devise,design,and implement a new product.

Question 63

A special type of project team formed to devise,design,and implement a new product is a

A) product-development team.
B) committee.
C) task force.
D) coalition.
E) quality-assurance team.

Question 64

Downward communication typically involves directions,the assignment of tasks and responsibilities,performance feedback,and certain details about the organization's strategies and goals.

Question 65

A permanent,formal group that performs a specific task is a

A) task force.
B) product-development team.
C) project team.
D) committee.
E) self-directed work team.

Question 66

A temporary group of employees responsible for bringing about a particular change is a

A) task force.
B) product-development team.
C) project team.
D) committee.
E) self-directed work team.

Question 67

Communication flows within an organization are always formal.

Question 68

Regardless of how a business is organized,most of the essential work of business occurs in individual work groups and teams.

Question 69

What is the difference between line structure and line-and-staff structure?

Question 70

Teams

A) have a strong,clearly focused leader.
B) have individual accountability.
C) share leadership and create collective work products.
D) run efficient meetings.
E) measure effectiveness indirectly.

Question 71

Project teams

A) are permanent,formal groups.
B) are composed of individuals from one functional area.
C) never last for more than six months.
D) run their operation and have control of a specific work project.
E) solve specific quality problems.

Question 72

Which of the following is formed to address specific quality,service,or productivity problems?

A) Self-directed work team
B) Product-development team
C) Work group
D) Quality-assurance team
E) Task force

Question 73

What is a self-directed work team?

Question 74

Work groups

A) have shared leadership roles.
B) have a specific purpose that the group itself delivers.
C) create collective work products.
D) have individual accountability.
E) encourage open-ended discussion.

Question 75

Quality assurance teams are groups of employees brought together to solve specific quality,productivity,or service problems.

Question 76

Which of the following is a temporary group of employees,usually chosen for their expertise,responsible for bringing out a specific change?

A) Self-directed work team
B) Product-development team
C) Work group
D) Quality-assurance team
E) Task force

Question 77

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using a matrix structure to organize?

Question 78

All groups are teams,but not all teams are groups.

Question 79

Horizontal communication involves the traditional flow of information from upper organizational levels downward.

Question 80

The most significant informal communication occurs while playing golf.