Deck 14: Organizational Structure

Question 1

Parties or organizations other than direct competitors that have some vested interest in how an organization is managed are called ________.

Answer 1

interest groups

Question 2

Events in various components of the environment provide both ________ and opportunities for organizations.

Answer 2

constraints

Question 3

Coping may be oriented towards changing the environment.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The concept of resource dependence shows how organizations are totally at the mercy of their environments.

Question 5

The components of a highly dynamic environment

A)are in a constant state of cyclical change.
B)remain fairly stable over time.
C)contain a large number of dissimilar factors that affect an organization.
D)are in a constant state of unpredictable and irregular change.
E)are in a static state of unpredictable complexity.

Question 6

What is the relationship between resource dependence and environmental uncertainty?

A)They mean precisely the same thing.
B)Uncertainty causes dependence.
C)More uncertainty is correlated with more dependence.
D)Less uncertainty is correlated with more dependence.
E)They are fairly independent concepts.

Question 7

Legal regulations are most likely a part of which environmental component faced by a business firm?

A)Customer component
B)Social/political component
C)Supplier component
D)Competitor component
E)Technological component

Question 8

As uncertainty decreases,cause-and-effect relationships become less clear.

Question 9

Environmental uncertainty and resource dependence are highly correlated-the more uncertain the environment,the more the firms facing this uncertainty are resource dependent.

Question 10

The most ________ environment is complex and dynamic.

Question 11

As defined and described in the text,interest groups do NOT

A)exist within an organization's environment.
B)exist within an organization.
C)make competing demands on an organization.
D)have different criteria for evaluating organizational effectiveness.
E)have some vested interest in how an organization is managed.

Question 12

Which of the following is most accurate?

A)Uncertainty eliminates cause-and-effect relationships.
B)Uncertainty decreases cause-and-effect relationships.
C)Uncertainty increases cause-and-effect relationships.
D)Cause-and-effect relationships increase uncertainty.
E)Cause-and-effect relationships decrease uncertainty.

Question 13

The most uncertain environments are complex and dynamic.

Question 14

________ systems take inputs from the external environment,transform some of these inputs,and send them back into the environment as outputs.

Question 15

Environmental uncertainty exists when an organization is vague,difficult to diagnose,and ________.

Question 16

Other things equal,which of the following organizational environments is most uncertain?

A)Complex and dynamic
B)Simple and dynamic
C)Complex and static
D)Simple and static
E)Static and dynamic

Question 17

Resource dependency and environmental uncertainty mean the same thing.

Question 18

Resource dependence is dependent on environmental uncertainty.

Question 19

Which of the following statements concerning the external environment is TRUE?

A)Different interest groups use identical criteria to evaluate organizational effectiveness.
B)Different interest groups seldom make conflicting demands on organizations.
C)Different parts of an organization will often be concerned with different components of its environment.
D)The smaller an organization, the more control it is likely to have over its environment.
E)Customers, suppliers, and employees are all components of an organization's external environment.

Question 20

By definition,open systems

A)interact with their environments.
B)have no barriers against membership.
C)provide easy information access to outsiders.
D)provide an open forum for interest groups.
E)All of the above

Question 21

What are the two main factors which determine environmental uncertainty? Discuss how various combinations of these factors can result in four levels of uncertainty.Give examples of industries which depict each level of uncertainty.

Question 22

The impact that the environment has on organizations is direct.

Question 23

Much of the impact that the environment has on organizations is indirect rather than direct.

Question 24

An example of the influence of the external environment is the ________ outbreak of 2003.

Question 25

Strategy formulation follows directly from

A)the objective environment.
B)strategy implementation.
C)the perceived environment.
D)managerial experience and personality.
E)organizational effectiveness.

Question 26

Discuss the nature of the relationship between environment and strategy.Be sure to describe each step in the process.

Question 27

What comprises the basis for strategy formulation?

A)Objective environment
B)Perceived environment
C)Managerial experience
D)Managerial personality
E)Managerial objectives

Question 28

The process by which top executives seek to cope with the constraints and opportunities posed by an organization's environment is called ________.

Question 29

The objective environment comprises the basis for strategy formulation.

Question 30

Describe the open systems concept of organizations and give an example.What is the value of the open systems concept?

Question 31

What are the main components of an organization's external environment? Which of these components may contain or influence interest groups which are relevant to your college or university? Cite examples.

Question 32

Uncertainty depends on the environment's ________ and rate of change.

Question 33

At what point in the relationship between the environment and strategy does managerial experience and personality play a role?

A)Between the objective environment and the perceived environment
B)Between perceived environment and strategy formulation
C)Between strategy formulation and strategy implementation
D)Between strategy implementation and organizational effectiveness
E)Between perceived environment and strategy implementation

Question 34

What is meant by the "external environment"? Provide some examples of how it can influence organizations.

Question 35

Strategy formulation is defined in the text as the process of adopting a particular organizational structure.

Question 36

Under normal circumstances,strategy formulation precedes strategy implementation.

Question 37

What are the effects of increasing uncertainty on organizations and their decision makers?

Question 38

As ________ increases,cause-and-effect relationships become less clear.

Question 39

________ is the process by which top executives seek to cope with the constraints and opportunities posed by an organization's environment.

Question 40

Much of the impact that the ________ has on organizations is indirect rather than direct.

Question 41

As labour is progressively divided vertically,timely communication and coordination can become

A)more complex.
B)smoother and more efficient.
C)easier to achieve.
D)more effective.
E)harder to achieve.

Question 42

"Who gets to tell whom what to do" is associated with

A)horizontal division of labour.
B)differentiation.
C)coordination.
D)vertical division of labour.
E)departmentation.

Question 43

Structure has to do with the manner in which an organization divides its labour into specific tasks and achieves

A)differentiation among these tasks.
B)integration among these tasks.
C)organization among these tasks.
D)coordination among these tasks.
E)departmentation among these tasks.

Question 44

Under high differentiation,various organizational units tend to operate more autonomously.

Question 45

Under high differentiation,various organizational units tend to operate more

A)effectively.
B)easily.
C)autonomously.
D)formally.
E)centralized.

Question 46

As labour is progressively divided vertically,timely communication and coordination can become easier to achieve.

Question 47

What are the two basic dimensions of the division of labour?

A)A vertical dimension and a departmental dimension
B)A vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension
C)A differentiated dimension and a horizontal dimension
D)A differentiated dimension and an integrated dimension
E)A departmental dimension and a horizontal dimension

Question 48

At Sigma Limited,the production managers and the sales managers can't agree about anything.It would appear that differentiation is high and integration is low.

Question 49

To achieve its goals an organization has to do two very basic things: divide and coordinate labour among its members.

Question 50

Which of the following is a logical symptom of high differentiation?

A)Marketing managers and engineering managers often don't see eye-to-eye.
B)There is a high degree of superior-subordinate conflict.
C)Very large spans of control
D)The organization is in poor financial shape and gravitating toward bankruptcy.
E)There are few formalized rules or procedures governing worker conduct.

Question 51

The tendency for managers in separate functions or departments to differ in terms of goals,time spans,and interpersonal styles is called ________.

Question 52

To achieve its goals an organization has to do two very basic things: divide and differentiate labour among its members.

Question 53

The vertical division of labour is best characterized by terms such as

A)finance, production, and marketing.
B)functional, product, and geographic.
C)president, manager, and worker.
D)span of control, size, and formalization.
E)differentiation, job design, and matrix.

Question 54

What two basic things must an organization do to achieve its goals?

A)Divide and structure labour
B)Departmentalize and coordinate labour
C)Divide and differentiate labour
D)Divide and coordinate labour
E)Structure and coordinate labour

Question 55

The grouping together of the basic tasks that must be performed for the organization to achieve its goals is called

A)horizontal division of labour.
B)vertical division of labour.
C)integration.
D)formalization.
E)span of control.

Question 56

The manner in which an organization divides labour into tasks and coordinates these tasks is referred to as ________.

Question 57

At Ajax Corporation,differentiation is high and integration is low.This suggests that

A)Ajax offers a large number of products and services.
B)sales and production don't see eye-to-eye.
C)functional managers have similar goals and time orientations.
D)Ajax is performing very effectively.
E)managers have very wide spans of control.

Question 58

The domain of an individual's decision-making and authority ________ as the number of levels in the hierarchy increases.

A)is reduced
B)is increased
C)stays the same
D)is decentralized
E)becomes more integrated

Question 59

Differentiation is defined as the number of different products or services offered by a firm.

Question 60

Differentiation is a natural and necessary consequence of the vertical division of labour.

Question 61

Organizational structure is the manner in which an organization divides its labour into specific ________ and achieves coordination among these ________.

Question 62

Functional departmentation may be based on division of the organization according to

A)different products.
B)different skills and responsibilities of individuals.
C)different geographic areas.
D)different customer types.
E)different services offered to external customers.

Question 63

An organization has one production unit.Other factors equal,it probably relies on ________ departmentation.

A)product
B)geographic
C)organic
D)functional
E)customer

Question 64

Compared to functional departmentation,in product departmentation

A)professional development might suffer.
B)professional development is a major advantage.
C)economies of scale is a major advantage.
D)efficiency is a major advantage.
E)it is difficult to respond to customers in a timely way.

Question 65

Define differentiation as it relates to the division of labour.What is the connection between differentiation and integration?

Question 66

Under high differentiation,various organizational units tend to operate more ________.

Question 67

Which of the following statements is least accurate?

A)As an organization's size increases, product departmentation is preferable to functional departmentation.
B)Organizations with product departmentation are more centralized than those with functional departmentation.
C)Organizations with functional departmentation are less complex than those with product departmentation.
D)Organizations with product departmentation may duplicate effort more than those with functional departmentation.
E)Communication between functional specialists tends to be more coordinated in organizations with product departmentation than in those with functional departmentation.

Question 68

Integrating business in multiple geographic regions is a common stimulus for

A)geographic departmentation.
B)matrix departmentation.
C)customer departmentation.
D)hybrid departmentation.
E)product departmentation.

Question 69

What structure is an attempt to capitalize simultaneously on the strengths of both functional and product departmentation?

A)Hybrid departmentation
B)Matrix departmentation
C)Geographic departmentation
D)Customer departmentation
E)Functional-by-product departmentation

Question 70

Labour must be ________ because individuals have physical and intellectual limitations.

Question 71

Under functional departmentation,all the chemists employed by the organization will likely be in the same department.

Question 72

Once labour is divided,it must be ________ to achieve organizational effectiveness.

Question 73

There is consensus that functional departmentation ________ than product departmentation.

A)is less efficient
B)is more sensitive to customers' needs
C)is more logical
D)leads to more coordination problems between functions
E)works better in very large firms

Question 74

Which of the following is a problem with the matrix structure?

A)Potential for conflict between the product manager and the functional manager
B)Loss of economies of scale without proper coordination
C)Poor coordination between departments results in slow response to organizational problems.
D)Permanent nature of the matrix requires total restructuring with each new project.
E)All of the above

Question 75

At Magno Limited,a consumer goods company,all the sales reps are in the same department and report to one sales manager.Magno is probably structured according to ________ departmentation.

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

Question 76

Achieving adequate coordination is often a problem of functional departmentation.

Question 77

Functional departmentation is preferable to product departmentation as the organization increases in size.

Question 78

Organizational structure is the manner in which an organization divides its labour into specific tasks and achieves ________ among these tasks.

Question 79

Functional departmentation works best in

A)large firms.
B)medium firms.
C)small firms.
D)small to medium-sized firms.
E)medium to large-sized firms.

Question 80

What is the most cited advantage of functional departmentation?

A)Efficiency
B)Communication
C)Coordination
D)Autonomy
E)Career ladders