Deck 3: Decisions in the Organization

Question 1

An organization includes issues of structure and resources.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Organizations can be said to be defined by the decisions that they make.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Group norms are not a dimension of organizational decision making.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

All organizational decisions are strategic in their nature.

Question 5

Strategic decisions are typically made at the middle management level and approved by senior management.

Question 6

The competence of decision-making ability at each level within an organization can affect the design of a DSS.

Question 7

Cultural fit is a method of viewing the relationship between organizational culture and decision making.

Question 8

An organization can either have an internal fit or external fit but may not have both simultaneously.

Question 9

Organizational culture can be a determinant of an organization's willingness to change.

Question 10

While an organization may be greater than the sum of its parts, it does not allow its members to collectively pursue and achieve greater goals than they could by acting individually.

Question 11

The line personnel who make decisions regarding day-to-day activities relating to production or services are called operations personnel.

Question 12

A good external fit suggests a culture that is shaped to both the organization's strategy and its marketplace.

Question 13

Internal fit refers to the match between an organization's culture and its leaders.

Question 14

Informal power is the term used to define how a manager exercises authority and whether he or she wishes to exercise the power available to them.

Question 15

Organizational politics influences organizational power.

Question 16

Organizational politics is always a disruptive factor in organizations.

Question 17

In the design of a DSS, organizational politics should be considered.

Question 18

The distinguishing characteristic of an ODSS over a GDSS is managerial control.

Question 19

Which of the following is not a dimension of organizational decision making?

A) Group roles
B) Group processes
C) Group structure
D) All of the above are dimensions.

Question 20

Which of the following is not an organizational decision level?

A) Operations
B) Tactical
C) Directing
D) Strategic

Question 21

Which of the following is not a characteristic of organizational culture?

A) Risk tolerance
B) Fault tolerance
C) Conflict tolerance
D) Communication patterns

Question 22

Which of the following is not a characteristic of organizational culture?

A) Direction
B) Control
C) Reward system
D) Personnel system

Question 23

The concept of viewing an organization as a "nexus of decisions" suggests that:

A) an organization is a unified system of resources defined and structured by a collective of functional and political subsystems bound by a set of stated goals and functioning within a set of loosely defined environments.
B) the organization's purpose is to make decisions within a business environment; it is defined by its decision opportunities, authorities, and responsibilities.
C) an organization is a chaotic environment where decisions occur both randomly and without purpose.
D) None of the above.

Question 24

Of the various factors affecting organizational decisions, the concept of group structure is best defined as:

A) the relationships between the actual point of decision and the participants in the decision-making process.
B) each member of a decision-making body has one or more specified roles that can affect both the nature of the decision strategy employed as well as the scope of decision types assigned.
C) the process employed be a decision-making body can impact the type of decisions that can be effectively made by that body which can conversely affect the method or process that must be used to make those types of decisions.
D) issues related to shared meaning among the constituents, individual and collective social pressures, genres, and prescriptions regarding behavior, personal beliefs, and potential sanctions.

Question 25

Of the various factors affecting organizational decisions, the concept of group roles is best described as:

A) the relationships between the actual point of decision (the person or persons actually making the decision) and the participants in the decision-making process.
B) each member of a decision-making body has one or more specified purposes that can affect both the nature of the decision strategy employed as well as the scope of decision types assigned.
C) the process employed by a decision-making body can impact the type of decisions that can be effectively made by that body which can conversely affect the method or process that must be used to make those types of decisions.
D) issues relating to shared meaning among constituents, individual and collective social pressures, genres and prescriptions regarding behavior, personal beliefs, and potential sanctions.

Question 26

Of the various factors affecting organizational decisions, the circular nature of group process is best described as:

A) the relationships between the actual point of decision (the person or persons actually making the decision) and the participants in the decision-making process.
B) each member of a decision-making body has one or more specified roles that can affect both the nature of the decision strategy employed as well as the scope of decision types assigned.
C) the process employed by a decision-making body can impact the type of decisions that can be effectively made by that body which can conversely affect the method or process that must be used to make those types of decisions.
D) issues relating to shared meaning among the constituents, individual and collective social pressures, genres and prescriptions regarding behavior, personal beliefs, and potential sanctions.

Question 27

Of the various factors affecting organizational decisions, the concept of group norms is best defined as:

A) the relationships between the actual point of decision (the person or persons actually making the decision) and the participants in the decision-making process.
B) each member of a decision-making body has one or more specified roles that can affect both the nature of the decision strategy employed as well as the scope of decision types assigned.
C) the process employed by a decision-making body can impact the type of decisions that can be effectively made by that body which can conversely affect the method or process that must be used to make those types of decisions.
D) issues relating to shared meaning among the constituents, individual and collective social pressures, genres and prescriptions regarding behavior, personal beliefs, and potential sanctions.

Question 28

An organization, when viewed from a decision-making perspective, can be conceptualized by which of the following three discrete levels of hierarchy?

A) Planning, controlling, doing
B) Management, labor, stakeholders
C) Operations, planning, and strategic
D) Tactical, political, social

Question 29

Cultures that tend to minimize individual initiative and risk taking, such as those of a product-driven orientation:

A) tend to support a more centralized decision-making emphasis where operating procedures, policies, schedules, etc. are all prescribed from a central authority.
B) tend to adopt more routine technologies that provide additional stability to the organization.
C) tend to adopt nonroutine technologies that require adaptability.
D) Both a and b.

Question 30

Cultures where initiative, creativity, and risk-taking are supported or rewarded:

A) tend to support a more centralized decision-making emphasis where operating procedures, policies, schedules, etc. are all prescribed from a central authority.
B) tend to adopt more routine technologies that provide additional stability to the organization.
C) tend to adopt nonroutine technologies that require adaptability.
D) Both a and b.

Question 31

Which of the following would not be considered a characteristic of an organization's culture?

A) Degree of individual initiative
B) Degree of risk tolerance
C) Degree of market share
D) Ccommunication patterns

Question 32

Which of the following is considered a characteristic of excellent companies?

A) They are hands-on and value driven.
B) They recognize that productivity is based on people.
C) They have a bias towards action.
D) All of the above.

Question 33

The concept which states that an individual will eventually be promoted to their level of incompetence is known as the:

A) Law of Incompetence.
B) Parretto Principle.
C) Peter Principle.
D) None of the above.

Question 34

The distinguishing characteristic of an ODSS over a GDSS is that of

A) size.
B) managerial control.
C) application.
D) Both b and c.

Question 35

Which of the following is not one of the five factors of power?

A) Judgment
B) Authority
C) Informal power
D) None of the above.

Question 36

Which of the following is true of organizational politics?

A) Politics can often serve to ensure an objective hearing of all sides of an issue.
B) Politics can facilitate the decision-making process.
C) Politics can facilitate organizational change.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 37

The ________________ level of an organization focuses on the implementation of decisions made at the highest level of the organization as well as decisions involving the acquisition of resources necessary to maintain desired capacities and outputs at the operations level.

A) operations
B) planning
C) strategic
D) tactical

Question 38

The members of the ___________________ level of an organization include the senior executives of the largest industrial and service firms in the world, the top administrators of the largest government agencies, and the generals and senior officers in the military.

A) operations
B) planning
C) strategic
D) None of the above.

Question 39

List ten characteristics of organizational culture.

Question 40

List 10 of 12 significant elements of managerial decision-making power, as defined by Harrison (1995).