Metro General Hospital (Scenario)
Joyce is the chief administrator in charge of a department at Metro General Hospital. When she worked as a registered nurse at a smaller community hospital, Joyce enjoyed the flexible structure, minimal rules, and team approach to decision making by nurses, administrators, and doctors. However, the situation at Metro is different. Metro has a tall, rigid structure with many rules and procedures designed to standardize jobs and guide employee behaviour. One such rule requires that all decisions in Joyce's department must be signed off by her alone) As a result, Joyce seems to spend most of her time filling out forms and signing documents. She also feels that the numerous levels of hierarchy are unnecessary and place barriers between herself and her staff. Joyce is not exactly sure why things have to be so "organized" and is planning to talk to her boss about making some changes to increase flexibility and reduce the number of rules and procedures.
-The many rules and policies designed to standardize jobs relates most closely to which of the following elements of structure?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Formalization refers to the degree to which jobs are standardized and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. The numerous rules and procedures in Joyce's department at Metro General Hospital indicate a high level of formalization.