Question 1

The extent to which the design of a job requires the worker to perform all of the tasks that are required to complete the job successfully is known as the task significance.

Accepted Answer

Task significance is the degree to which a worker feels his/her job is meaningful because of its effect on people inside the organization, such as coworkers, or on people outside the organization, such as customers.

Question 2

It is easier for managers to monitor and evaluate subordinates' performance in a functional structure than a divisional structure.

Accepted Answer

When people who perform similar jobs are grouped together, it is easier for managers to monitor and evaluate their performance. A functional structure allows workers to evaluate how well coworkers are performing their jobs, and if some workers are performing poorly, more experienced workers can help them develop new skills.

Question 3

The process by which managers set the structure of working relationships among workers in an organization is called organizing.

Accepted Answer

Organizing is the process by which managers establish the structure of working relationships among employees to allow them to achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively.

Question 4

The first step in organizational design is job design.

Accepted Answer

The first step in organizational design is job design, the process by which managers decide how to divide into specific jobs the tasks that have to be performed to provide customers with goods and services.

Question 5

Managers lose control over their different businesses by moving to a more flexible structure.

Accepted Answer

Managers gain more control over their different businesses by moving to a more flexible structure.

Question 6

Division of labor among employees is the result of the differentiation process.

Accepted Answer

Division of labor among employees is the result of the job design process. Establishing an appropriate division of labor among employees is a critical part of the organizing process, one that is vital to increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

Question 7

The job characteristics model explains how managers can make jobs more interesting and motivating.
G. R. Oldham's job characteristics model is an influential model of job design that explains in detail how managers can make jobs more interesting and motivating.

Accepted Answer

J. R. Hackman and

Question 8

The degree to which a job design gives a worker the freedom to schedule his/her tasks and to decide how to carry them out is known as the task identity.

Accepted Answer

Task identity is the extent to which a job requires that a worker perform all the tasks necessary to complete the job, from the beginning to the end of the production process.

Question 9

The more skilled its workforce,the less likely an organization is to use a flexible,decentralized structure.

Accepted Answer

The more highly skilled its workforce, and the greater the number of employees who work together in groups or teams, the more likely an organization is to use a flexible, decentralized structure and a professional culture based on values and norms that foster employee autonomy and self-control.

Question 10

Increasing the number of different tasks in a job by changing the division of labor is known as job enrichment.

Accepted Answer

Job enrichment is increasing the degree of responsibility a worker has over his/her job.

Question 11

Increasing the degree of responsibility that a worker has over his/her job is known as job simplification.

Accepted Answer

Job simplification is the process of reducing the number of tasks that each worker performs.

Question 12

A differentiation strategy aimed at increasing the customer's perception of an organization services usually succeeds even with an inflexible structure.

Accepted Answer

A differentiation strategy aimed at increasing the value customers perceive in an organization's goods and services usually succeeds best in a flexible structure with a culture that values innovation. Flexibility facilitates a differentiation strategy because managers can develop new or innovative products quickly.

Question 13

According to contingency theory,there can be only one best way to design an organization's structure.

Accepted Answer

According to contingency theory, there is no one best way to design an organization's structure. Managers design organizational structures to fit the factors or circumstances that are affecting the company the most and causing them the most uncertainty. Designs reflect each organization's specific situation, and researchers have argued that in some situations stable, mechanistic structures may be most appropriate while in others flexible, organic structures might be the most effective.

Question 14

The more nonroutine the technology an organization uses,the easier it is for managers to control and regulate the technology.

Accepted Answer

The more routine the technology, the more appropriate is a formal structure, because tasks are simple and the steps needed to produce goods and services have been worked out in advance.

Question 15

A functional structure is an organizational structure composed of all of the departments that an organization needs to produce its products.

Accepted Answer

A functional structure is an organizational structure composed of all the departments that an organization requires to produce its goods or services. Manufacturing, sales, and research and development are often organized into functional departments.

Question 16

Routine technologies are characterized by low task variety and high task analyzability.

Accepted Answer

Routine technologies are characterized by low task variety and high task analyzability; this means that the problems encountered do not vary much and are easily resolved through programmed decision making.

Question 17

In a quickly changing external environment,decentralizing authority and empowering lower-level employees tend to make organizations less flexible and slow in making decisions.

Accepted Answer

To speed decision making and communication and make it easier to obtain resources, managers typically make organizing choices that result in more flexible structures and entrepreneurial cultures. They are likely to decentralize authority, empower lower-level employees to make important operating decisions, and encourage values and norms that emphasize change and innovation; a more organic form of organizing.

Question 18

The degree to which a manager feels that his/her job is meaningful because of the way that it affects other people is known as the autonomy of the job.

Accepted Answer

Autonomy is the degree to which a job gives an employee the freedom and discretion needed to schedule different tasks and decide how to carry them out.

Question 19

The nature of an organization's human resources is an important determinant of the organization's structure.

Accepted Answer

Four factors are important determinants of the type of organizational structure or organizing method managers select: the nature of the organizational environment, the type of strategy the organization pursues, the technology (and particularly information technology) the organization uses, and the characteristics of the organization's human resources.

Question 20

Organizational design reflects the organization's mission statement irrespective of the situation.

Accepted Answer

Organizational design is the process by which managers make specific organizing choices about tasks and job relationships that result in the construction of a particular organizational structure.

Quiz 7: Designing Organizational Structure