Deck 7: Organizational Structure and Change

Question 1

A disadvantage of formalization in organization structure is:

A)Decision making is at a faster pace
B)Formalized structure is associated with increased motivation and job satisfaction
C)Strategic decision making occurs often
D)Reduced innovativeness occurs because employees are used to behaving in a certain manner

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In centralized companies,many important decisions are made at lower levels of the hierarchy.

Answer 2

False
In centralized companies,many important decisions are made at higher levels of the hierarchy.

Question 3

When a company has a diverse product line,each product will have unique demands,deeming divisional structures more useful.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Decentralized companies give more authority to a higher-level employee,resulting in a sense of empowerment.

Question 5

________________ is the extent to which an organization's policies,procedures,job descriptions,and rules are written and explicitly articulated.

Question 6

__________________ refers to how individual and team-work within an organization is coordinated.

Question 7

Which of the following is true regarding functional structures?:

A)Jobs are based on differences in functions
B)Departments include manufacturing,finance,accounting,human resources and information technology
C)Each person is trained to do several job functions.
D)Each person handles specific transactions

Question 8

???_______________ companies give more authority to lower-level employees,resulting in a sense of empowerment.

Question 9

The following statements regarding tall structures in an organization are true EXCEPT:

A)Tall structures are better at satisfying security needs of employees then in flat structures
B)Number of employees reporting to each manager tends to be smaller in tall structures
C)Employees feel a greater sense of job security in tall structures
D)In tall structures,there is a greater level of freedom of action for each employee

Question 10

In a ______________ company decisions can be made more quickly.

Question 11

Functional structures tend to be effective when an organization has a large number of products and services requiring special attention.

Question 12

Some employees are more comfortable in a centralized organization where their manager confidently gives instructions and makes decisions.

Question 13

Formalized structures are those in which there are few written rules and regulations.

Question 14

Mechanistic structures include which of the following?:

A)Structures that are informal and decentralized.
B)Structures where communication follows informal channels
C)Structures that are flexible and easy to change
D)Structures where employees are given specific job descriptions delineating their roles and responsibilities

Question 15

Mechanistic structures limit individual autonomy and self determination which will likely lead to lower levels of intrinsic motivation on the job.

Question 16

Decisions can be made more quickly in centralized companies.

Question 17

Functional structures are more effective in stable environments that are fast to change.False: Functional structures are more effective in stable environments that are slower to change.Medium;Knowledge

Question 18

Research indicates that flat organizations provide greater need satisfaction for employees,and greater levels of self-actualization.

Question 19

_______________ is the degree to which decision making authority is concentrated at higher levels in an organization.

Question 20

In decentralized companies,decisions are made and problems are solved at lower levels by employees who are closer to the problem in question.

Question 21

All of the following are characteristics which describe learning organizations EXCEPT:

A)Learning organizations are good at learning from experience
B)Some companies choose to conduct formal retrospective meetings to analyze the challenges encountered and areas for improvement
C)Learning organizations hire only employees who are willing to learn from past mistakes
D)Learning organizations are good at studying customer habits to generate ideas

Question 22

When a company has several layers of management between frontline employees and the top level,it is said to have ?????____________ structures.

Question 23

What are the four aspects of organizational structure that have been frequently studied in the literature and are mentioned in your text?

Question 24

An example of a company that is a modular organization is:

A)Toyota
B)Nike
C)3M
D)Starbucks

Question 25

In a matrix structure,product managers have control and say over product related matters,while department managers have authority over matters related to company policy.

Question 26

Organizational structures differ in terms of _______________,which is broadly categorized as either functional or divisional.

Question 27

Explain how the manufacturer Caterpillar suffered the consequences of decentralized decision making.

Question 28

____________structures involve a larger number of employees reporting to each manager.

Question 29

In a matrix,each employee reports to only one manager at a time.

Question 30

In a _____________ structure,advancement opportunities will be more limited because there are fewer management layers.

Question 31

An example of a company that utilizes the matrix organization successfully is:

A)Starbucks
B)Nike
C)3M
D)Ben and Jerry's

Question 32

Boundaryless organizations eliminate barriers that separate employees between different departments.

Question 33

Despite potential benefits,the disadvantages of a matrix structure include which of the following?:

A)Power struggles or turf wars among managers are lessened,taking away an important source of new ideas and innovation.
B)Managers will spend less effort coordinating their work,believing that someone else can pick-up the slack.
C)Role ambiguity or role conflict is very low
D)There is potential for interpersonal conflict with team members as well as with leaders

Question 34

Structures control employee behavior using written rules,so that employees have little _____________ to decide on a case-by-case basis.

Question 35

____________ structures are flexible and decentralized,with low levels of formalization.

Question 36

In organizations using _____________ structures,departments represent the unique products,services,customers,or geographic locations the company is serving.

Question 37

Organizations using a____________ structure group jobs based on similarity in functions.

Question 38

There are _________ configurations of organizational structures depending on how the different elements are arranged.

Question 39

In an example of a matrix structure at a software development company,business analysts,developers,and testers each report to a functional department manager and to a project manager simultaneously.

Question 40

Formalization tends to make employee behavior more ____________.

Question 41

Because of differences in national economies and standards of living from one country to another,organizations ______________ their manufacturing operations to countries like China and Mexico.

Question 42

Organizational change is often a response to changes in the ?????________________.

Question 43

A form of boundaryless organization in which all nonessential functions are outsourced is ________________.

Question 44

Knowledge work is thought to be safe from outsourcing.False: Knowledge work is not safe from outsourcing.Medium;Comprehension

Question 45

Organizational change can take the form of which of the following?:

A)Structure,strategy,policies,or culture
B)Change should be planned on quarterly basis and measured for progress
C)Fundamentally,organizational change is a process that involved effective products or services
D)Change should moderate so as to not disrupt corporate cultural norms..

Question 46

______________ involves being disturbed by changes without necessarily voicing these opinions.

Question 47

Change management is an important leadership skill that spans the entire range of P-O-L-C functions.

Question 48

______________ is the most negative reaction to a proposed change attempt.

Question 49

Who did Starbucks form a successful partnership with and why?

Question 50

Organizations with a design that combines a traditional structure and a product structure are called ?????________________ organizations.

Question 51

________________ are defenders of the new way and actually encourage others around them to give support to the change effort.

Question 52

What is IBM's EBO?

Question 53

Instead of including employees,organizations should recruit a small number of opinion leaders to promote the benefits of coming changes.

Question 54

__________________ constitutes a form of boundaryless design similar to a joint venture.

Question 55

_______________ involves going along with proposed changes with little enthusiasm.

Question 56

Sometimes change is motivated by rapid developments in ??????_______________.

Question 57

A __________________ is one whose design actively seeks to acquire knowledge and change behavior as a result of the newly acquired knowledge.

Question 58

An example of a boundaryless organization that outsources many of its operations is __________________.

Question 59

The act of including employees in the change process can drastically reduce opposition to new methods.

Question 60

A term coined by Jack Welch during his tenure at GE and refers to an organization that eliminates traditional barriers between departments as well as barriers between the organization and the external environment is _________________.

Question 61

Lewin's change model includes which of the following steps?:

A)Develop
B)Make sure employees are receptive to change
C)Build a coalition
D)Inform employees that you are open to new ideas and that the the change may not be permanent

Question 62

Why do people resist change?

Question 63

What changes are companies coping with as a result of outsourcing?

Question 64

According to Lewin,executing change without prior preparation is likely to lead to failure.

Question 65

When the new behaviors employees are expected to demonstrate are made part of an organization's reward,those behaviors are more likely to be taken seriously and repeated.

Question 66

Breaking up the proposed change into phases may be a bad idea because it creates the wrong targets.

Question 67

Why do employees who participate in planning change efforts tend to have more positive opinions about the change?

A)They have the opportunity to reject the proposed change
B)They will have the opportunity to know more than others about the change
C)They will be able to convince customers the change was the right thing to do
D)They will feel a sense of ownership of planned change and are more likely to be on board.

Question 68

In order to convince people that change is needed,the change leader must convince every person individually.

Question 69

How does Nokia keep their organization open to change? Nokia finds that it is important to periodically change the perspective of key decision makers.For this purpose,they rotate heads of businesses to different posts to give them a fresh perspective.Change in a company's upper-level management is a motivator for change at the organization level.Medium;Comprehension

Question 70

In order to make change permanent,the organization may benefit from sharing the results of the change effort with:

A)Employees
B)Managers
C)Customers
D)Board members

Question 71

Why did the Dvorak keyboard fail in change? When the typewriter was first invented,the first prototypes of the keyboard would jam if the keys right next to each other were hit at the same time.The manufacturers slowed typists down by putting the most commonly used letters to the left hand side and scattering the most frequently used letters all over the keyboard.Dvorak provided a much more efficient design and allowed individuals to double traditional typing speeds.The Dvorak keyboard never gained wide acceptance because large numbers of people resisted the change.Medium;Knowledge

Question 72

After the change is implemented,the long-term success of a change effort depends on the extent to which the change becomes part of the company's strategy.False: After the change is implemented,the long term success of a change effort depends on the extent to which the change becomes part of the company's culture.Hard;Comprehension

Question 73

A number of things organizations can do prior to change to prepare employees include which of the following?:

A)Provide employees with HR support in the event they choose to leave the organzaition.
B)Allow employees to participate
C)Effectively communicate the pros and cons of the expected change.
D)Unfreeze

Question 74

How does a change in the environment create change within an organization?

Question 75

One of the most useful frameworks in the area of change is the three-stage mode of planned changed developed by psychologist ?????_______________.

Question 76

How did companies in the music industry respond when peer-to-peer file sharing threatened their business? Their first response was to sue the users of file sharing software.They also kept looking for a technology which would make it impossible to copy a CD or DVD.Easy;Knowledge

Question 77

Why do poorly performing companies often find it easier to change compared to successful companies? High performance actually leads to overconfidence and inertia.As a result,successful companies often keep doing what made them successful in the first place.Medium;Comprehension

Question 78

To be successful,any change attempt will need to overcome _____________ on the part of employees.

Question 79

Organizations should start with _______________,or making sure that organizational members are ready for and receptive to change.

Question 80

What does it mean for companies that the workforce is getting older? Organizations may realize that as the workforce gets older,the types of benefits workers prefer may change.Work arrangements such as flexible work hours and job sharing may become more popular as employees remain in the workforce even after retirement.Medium;Comprehension