chapter 15

Which of the following statements is true?

A high level of work specialization tends to bring about a high level of work formalization.

Define span of control. Describe the relationship between a span of control and organizational performance.

A manager's span of control represents how many employees he or she is responsible for in an organization. Narrow spans of control allow managers to be much more hands-on with employees, giving them the opportunity to use directive leadership styles while developing close mentoring relationships with employees. Organizational performance increases with span of control, but only up to the point that managers no longer have the ability to coordinate and supervise the large numbers of employees underneath them. Beyond this point, performance decreases with increase in span of control. A moderate span of control is best suited for an organization's productivity.

Define organizational structure. What is an organizational chart, and how does it affect an organization?

An organizational structure formally dictates how jobs and tasks are divided and coordinated between individuals and groups within the company. Organizational structures can be relatively simple when a company only has 5 to 20 employees but grow incredibly complex as the number of employees increases. An organizational chart is a drawing that represents every job in the organization and the formal reporting relationships between those jobs. It helps organizational members and outsiders understand and comprehend how work is structured within the company.

A large company recently adopted a structure in order to give its top managers more responsibility and flexibility. The company is now structured around four customer groupings: consumers, corporations, small and mid-sized businesses, and government and educational buyers. Which of the following organizational structures has this company created?

Client-based

Which of the following is a characteristic of a mechanistic organization?

Employees are given a very narrow view of the tasks they are to perform.

Which of the following refers to the degree to which rules and procedures are used to standardize behaviors and decisions in an organization?

Formalization

Which of the following statements is true about functional organization structure?

Functional structures are extremely efficient when the organization has fewer product lines or services.

Which of the following statements about an organization in a dynamic business environment is true?

It requires organizations to have structures that are more adaptive.

Define matrix structure. Identify one strength and one weakness of such a structure from an employee's viewpoint.

Matrix structures are more complex forms of organizational design that try to take advantage of two types of structures at the same time. One strength from an employee's viewpoint is that this structure gives each employee two groups with which to interact and two sources of information to consider. One of the main weaknesses of this structure is that this structure, given the two chains of command, can create high levels of stress for employees.

Differentiate between mechanistic and organic structures.

Mechanistic organizations are efficient, rigid, predictable, and standardized organizations that thrive in stable environments. Mechanistic organizations are typified by a structure that relies on high levels of formalization, a rigid and hierarchical chain of command, high degrees of work specialization, centralization of decision making, and narrow spans of control. In contrast, organic organizations are flexible, adaptive, outward-focused organizations that thrive in dynamic environments. Organic organizations are typified by a structure that relies on low levels of formalization, weak or multiple chains of command, low levels of work specialization, and wide spans of control.

What is the primary reason for simple structures being perhaps the most common form of organizational design?

There are more small organizations than large ones.

Which of the following statements about companies that adopt a differentiation strategy is true?

They believe that people will pay more for a product that is unique in some way.

Restructuring efforts typically not enhance employees' trust in the organization.

True

Which of the following is associated with decentralization in decision making?

Wide spans of control

State at least two advantages and two disadvantages of work specialization.

Work specialization is the way in which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs. The main advantages of work specialization are as follows: • Having only one task to perform, it helps increase the productivity of employees. • It makes training new workers much easier when replacements are needed. However, there are trade-offs/disadvantages when organizations make jobs highly specialized - (1) Highly specialized jobs can cause organizations to lose the ability associated with employees who can be flexible in what they do, and (2) By spending all their time performing specialized tasks well, employees fail to update or practice other skills. Organizations may also struggle with employee job satisfaction when they make jobs highly specialized.

Although not much is known about the effect of restructuring on affective commitment, restructuring generally results in _____ level of affective commitment on the part of employees.

a moderate negative

The matrix structure gives each employee _____ chain(s) of command.

at least two

Which element of the organizational structure signifies formal authority relationships?

chain of command

Melissa is describing her company's organizational structure. Which of the following terms and concepts would she not use in her description?

cultural values

The biggest weakness of a functional structure is that:

employees don't communicate as well across functions as they do within functions.

Although matrix structures have been around since the 1960s, the number of organizations using them has declined because organizations prefer to work in groups rather than in teams.

false

Companies that have a small number of customers with similar needs and tastes must develop client structures to organize their business.

false

To keep the stress level low and avoid multiple chains of command issues, managers should adopt the matrix structure

false

in Grand Stand Organization, a furniture manufacturing company, the arrival and departure times to and from work are specified to the minute, with time clocks used to control deviant behavior. It can be said that the company is high in:

formalization.

. As organizations become larger, they tend to become more _____ in nature.

mechanistic

TP Pencils is the low-cost producer of one type of standard pencils. Given that it operates in a fairly stable environment, the company focuses on making its product as efficiently as possible. Which of the following approaches to organizational design is likely to be appropriate for TP Pencils?

mechanistic

Homely Furniture is a custom manufacturer of hand-crafted furniture. The company has 94 locations throughout the country and relies on decentralized decision making to meet the needs of the dynamic environment and customer needs. Which of the following approaches to organizational design is likely to be appropriate for Homely Furniture?

organic

The process of creating, selecting, or changing the structure of an organization is called:

organizational design.

Span of control:

refers to the number of employees each manager is responsible for in the organization.

The method by which an organization transforms its inputs into outputs refers to its:

technology

As companies become larger, they tend to use a combination of specialization, formalization, and centralization to control their activities, thereby becoming more mechanistic in nature.

true

Organizational restructuring has a moderate negative effect on organizational commitment.

true

The degree to which a job requires a number of different activities involving a number of different skills and talents is referred to as:

variety

Which of the following typifies the structure that organic organizations rely on?

weak chain of commands

A _____ span of control creates a _____ organization structure.

wide; flat