Question 1

Bright Electronics has found it needs to reorganize, including a significant trim of its middle management. This action will likely result in

Accepted Answer

Flattening the organization and empowering employees can help Bright Electronics to become more efficient, agile and customer-centric. This approach provides employees with greater autonomy and responsibility, resulting in faster decision-making, enhanced customer service, and improved innovation. Acquiring additional firms or increasing department size may not address the root cause of the problem and can result in unnecessary expenses, while centralizing decision-making may hamper the company’s ability to innovate and respond quickly to market changes. Therefore, B is the best choice for Bright Electronics.

Question 2

Leaf Lovers Garden Centers is a chain of discount gardening stores throughout the United States. Top management realizes that among the different regions of the U.S., there are vastly different climates and soil conditions. Therefore, regional managers are given a great deal of freedom to decide exactly what types of plants, fertilizers, and other items to stock and how to best market these products. Leaf Lovers is an example of a ________ organization.

Accepted Answer

Leaf Lovers Garden Centers is an example of a decentralized organization because top management gives regional managers a great deal of freedom to make decisions on what to stock and how to market the products, indicating that decision-making is spread out throughout the organization rather than being centralized.

Question 3

Staff positions in an organization

Accepted Answer

Staff positions are intended to provide support and assistance to the line positions, which are responsible for the primary activities of the organization such as production, sales, and customer service. Staff positions may include roles in human resources, accounting, and marketing, among others, and are necessary to help the organization achieve its goals. They are not typically superior or inferior to line positions in terms of authority or importance, and compensation may vary depending on the specific role and level of responsibility. Staff positions are not solely reserved for retired CEOs, as they can be filled by a variety of professionals with specialized skills and experience.

Question 4

Which of the organization models follows all of Fayol's traditional management rules?

Accepted Answer

A line organization follows all of Fayol's traditional management rules, including a clear chain of command, unity of command, unity of direction, centralization, and scalar chain.

Question 5

Southeastern Bank organizes its loan operations based on the market served-consumer, small business, or nonprofit organizations. Departmentalization based on ________ allows Southeastern to better serve borrowers with different needs.

Accepted Answer

Southeastern Bank organizes its loan operations based on the market served-consumer, small business, or nonprofit organizations. This means departmentalization based on customer group allows Southeastern to better serve borrowers with different needs. Option A (function) refers to grouping based on specific tasks, Option B (geography) would be grouping based on location, and Option C (process) would be grouping based on specific stages of a process.

Question 6

International Inns and Conference Centers (IICC), a national chain of professional event centers, utilizes a centralized authority structure. Which of the following provides the most likely explanation for why management at IICC would favor centralized authority?

Accepted Answer

Centralized authority allows for a consistent and uniform approach to decision-making and implementation, which can help maintain a uniform image and high-quality service across all locations of the chain.

Question 7

Which of the following was created as a solution to the temporary nature of the matrix structure?

Accepted Answer

Cross-functional self-managed teams were created as a solution to the temporary nature of the matrix structure. These teams consist of employees from different departments who work together on specific projects and are empowered to make decisions and manage their workload. They allow for more flexibility and adaptability than a traditional hierarchical structure.

Question 8

Watchful Eyes Industries manufactures a multitude of safety products like burglar alarms, smoke detectors, surveillance cameras, and specialty locks. Watchful Eyes doesn't just stick to households, they outfit businesses and government agencies as well. They have found that each market requires a different marketing strategy. Watchful Eyes would probably benefit from departmentalization by

Accepted Answer

Departmentalizing by customer type would allow Watchful Eyes to tailor their marketing and sales strategies to the unique needs and preferences of each market segment (i.e. households, businesses, government agencies). This would increase their efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the needs of each group, leading to improved customer satisfaction and profitability.

Question 9

Employees who perform functions that advise and assist line personnel are known as

Accepted Answer

Employees who provide advisory and supportive services to line personnel are known as staff personnel. They assist in decision making, training, communication, and other activities that aid in achieving the organization's objectives. Middle managers, on the other hand, are responsible for executing the strategies and decisions made by top management. Empowered workers and secondary employees are not recognized management terms.

Question 10

________ are responsible for directly achieving organizational goals.

Accepted Answer

Line personnel are responsible for directly achieving organizational goals by producing goods or delivering services. Organizational specialists provide expertise and support to line personnel, staff personnel assist in administrative functions, and chain of command managers oversee the entire organization.

Question 11

Management at Leaves of Green, a nationwide vegetarian restaurant chain, believes that its customers value a predictable and consistent level of service and quality. When customers stop at one of its restaurants anywhere in the United States, they should know what to expect in terms of menu, price and quality. In order to maintain this consistency, Leaves of Green adopted a(n) ________ structure.

Accepted Answer

A centralized authority structure is best suited for maintaining consistency and predictability throughout a nationwide chain of restaurants. This structure involves decision-making and control being held at the top of the organization, allowing for uniformity in menu, pricing, and quality standards across all locations.

Question 12

Matrix organizational structures were first developed in

Accepted Answer

Matrix organizational structures were first developed in the aerospace industry.

Question 13

In a ________ organization, specialists from different parts of the organization are brought together on a temporary basis to work on specific projects.

Accepted Answer

A matrix organization is specifically designed to bring together specialists from different areas of the organization to work on specific projects. The other options, line, line-and-staff, and centralized, do not have a specific structure for this type of collaboration.

Question 14

On Air Studios organizes its jobs by activity, such as production, marketing, accounting, and finance. On Air Studios applies ________ departmentalization in order to maximize their efficiency.

Accepted Answer

On Air Studios applies functional departmentalization where jobs are organized by activity to maximize efficiency.

Question 15

The marketing department manager at Creative Counselors International made a strong push to hire professionals with superior performance records in prior jobs. It didn't take long for these enthusiastic marketers to recognize the many talents within their department. They admired at how alike they were and how they seemed to agree with each other's work styles and ideas. After a while, it became difficult for others in the organization to present to this group. If the idea did not originate within the marketing team, marketers did not give it much credence. This phenomenon is called

Accepted Answer

The phenomenon described in the passage is called groupthink, which occurs when a group of individuals becomes so focused on agreement and harmony that they reject dissenting opinions or ideas from outside the group.

Question 16

As the head of the engineering department for her company, Jody works with her team on complex and challenging projects. The level of detail in this work requires Jody to spend a significant amount of time with each team member, providing advice and support. Due to the complexity and time involvement of each project, Jody has a(n) ________ span of control.

Accepted Answer

A narrow span of control means that an individual manager has few direct reports, which allows for more detailed oversight and support. This is necessary in Jody's case, where she needs to provide advice and support to each team member for complex and challenging projects. A wide span of control would be less effective in this situation as Jody would not have enough time to provide the necessary support to each team member. Unlimited and functional spans of control are not relevant in this context.

Question 17

Clean Sweep Corporation has seen rapid growth during its first five years. While still relatively small, Clean Sweep is now big enough that Sawyer, the firm's CEO, has decided to organize the firm into functional departments. Sawyer can likely expect which of the following to occur?

Accepted Answer

Functional departmentalization tends to create opportunities for employees to develop skills in depth. Employees can progress within a department as they master those skills.

Question 18

Line-and-staff organizations work well in organizations with

Accepted Answer

Line-and-staff organizations are designed to work best in organizations with a relatively unchanging environment. The clear separation of line and staff functions allows for efficient decision-making and streamlined operations. In high-growth industries, stiff competition, and short product life cycles, constant adaptation and change are needed which may not be served well by the traditional line-and-staff structure.

Question 19

Bass Clef Music Company assigns workers to departments based on similar skills. Currently, the company has a marketing department, a production department, a finance department, and a human resources department. This suggests that Bass Clef departmentalizes by

Accepted Answer

Bass Clef Music Company departmentalizes by function, which means that workers are grouped together based on their similar skills and job responsibilities. This allows for a more efficient use of resources and specialization within each department.

Question 20

A ________ organization is characterized by direct two-way lines of responsibility, authority, and communication running from the top to the bottom of the organization, with all people reporting to only one supervisor.

Accepted Answer

A line organization is characterized by a clear chain of command where each person has one supervisor and communicates directly with them.

Quiz 8: Structuring Organizations for Todays Challenges