Deck 16: Organizations and People

Question 1

Luther Gulick developed a view of the functions of an executive that included planning, organizing, staffing, directing, co-ordination, reporting, and budgeting.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Gulick visualized management as a universal activity, but his description of the managerial function was applied primarily to governmental administration.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Gulick's principle of homogeneity noted four methods for the grouping of activities; purpose, process, persons or things, and the place.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

John R. Commons emphasized transactions as the smallest unit of analysis in the transfer of property rights.

Question 5

One factor that supported Graicunas's argument for a narrow or limited span of control was the psychological principle of "span and attention."

Question 6

Ronald Coase viewed firms as a potential means of reducing the costs of market transactions.

Question 7

Davis's work, The Fundamentals of Top Management, defined management as the function of executive leadership and stressed the need for professional managers.

Question 8

Management theorists such as Mooney and Reiley believed that people worked better when they knew what was expected of them.

Question 9

Theorists such as Ralph C. Davis and Harry Hopf stressed organizational structure and design as a means to both employee satisfaction and organizational productivity.

Question 10

Mooney and Reiley

A) saw organization as a means to attain a common purpose
B) developed a framework of principles, processes, and effects
C) recognized the need for coordination, scalar authority, and distinction of duties
D) developed principles which resembled Weber's bureaucratic hierarchy
E) all of the above

Question 11

POSDCORB was developed by:

A) V. A. Graicunas
B) Ralph C. Davis
C) Lyndall Urwick
D) Luther Gulick
E) none of the above

Question 12

Luther Gulick's_______required the grouping of similar activities under one head.

A) principle of coordination
B) principle of homogeneity
C) principle of variation
D) principle of heterogeneity
E) none of the above

Question 13

POSDCORB is an acronym for:

A) a governmental agency
B) describing a manager's job
C) an improvement on the Gantt Chart
D) a control technique
E) both C and D above

Question 14

The person who used mathematics to explain the span of control was:

A) Lyndall Urwick
B) Charles McCormick
C) Ralph C. Davis
D) Alex Carey
E) none of the above

Question 15

One of the factors indicated by V. A. Graicunas to support his argument for a narrow or limited span of control was the_______ .

A) the salaries of executives
B) "tapping labor's brains (i.e., participation)
C) definition of the acceptance theory of authority
D) the span of attention
E) job enlargement

Question 16

Which of the following was not identified by Ralph C. Davis as an organic function of management?

A) planning
B) organizing
C) coordinating
D) all of the above are organic

Question 17

The "organic functions of management" were developed by:

A) Ralph C. Davis
B) Lyndall Urwick
C) Luther Gulick
D) Chester Barnard
E) Henry Dennison

Question 18

Felt that all managers were judged and should be rewarded by the results they obtained. (P.S. "Optimology" is also one of the ides of this person.)

A) V. A. Graicunas
B) H. A. Hopf
C) Luther Gulick
D) Lyndall Urwick
E) none of the above

Question 19

Harry Hopf argued that a firm should

A) maximize earnings thereby serving society
B) serve society and thereby maximize earnings
C) minimize profits to serve society
D) disregard society and operate where total costs equaled total revenues
E) practice none of the above

Question 20

Who started the "management audit" approach by formulating a continuing series of publications on appraising managerial competence in organizations?

A) Jackson Martindell
B) Alvin Brown
C) Harry Hopf
D) Ralph Davis
E) none of the above

Question 21

What were the contributions of Mooney and Reiley, Gulick, Urwick, and Graicunas to organization theory? Examine a contemporary organization---business, social, religious, or political---and assess how applicable these ideas are today.

Question 22

Study some recent instance in which top management and/or the board of directors have not served shareholder interests. Speculate on why the issue of ownership and control has been such a controversial since Adam Smith expressed his concern about those who manage "other peoples' money" many years ago.

Question 23

When Ronald Coase wondered about why business firms existed, what did he find? Would his ideas also apply to noneconomic organizations? Why or why not?

Question 24

Luther Gulick accepted Henri Fayol's managerial elements (functions) and expanded these to apply to public administration. What would be some major differences between managerial work in for-profit compared with not- for-profit organizations?

Question 25

Harry Hopf thought that corporate earnings were a product of service to society, rather than the goal of an enterprise. How do you feel about this interpretation in terms of what other business courses, e.g. finance or economics, would say?