CH 10 MNGT

Pooled interdependence exists when there are multiple parts that function (intermittently/collectively/independently) and then pool their output to reflect total organization or team performance.

independently In pooled interdependence, each person acts independently.

You ask Paul to spend the day training Michelle while you are in meetings. What benefits might Paul experience as a result of this delegation? Check all that apply. Paul may feel a sense of esteem that you chose him as the best person to train Michelle. The authority granted to Paul may be perceived as job enrichment. Paul may try to steal your job. It's a professional development opportunity for Paul. Paul gains managerial experience training new employees.

Paul may feel a sense of esteem that you chose him as the best person to train Michelle. The authority granted to Paul may be perceived as job enrichment. It's a professional development opportunity for Paul. Paul gains managerial experience training new employees.

Which of the following is not necessary for delegation to be successful? Accountability Authority Responsibility Adaptability

Adaptability Routine, simple tasks are often great candidates for delegation. Thus, adaptability is not necessary for delegation to work. However, authority, responsibility, and accountability must all be part of a successful delegation process.

The type of sports team that best exemplifies pooled interdependence is the (basketball / baseball / track) team because the team members complete independently, and their scores are combined to represent the team's output.

track The track team best exemplifies pooled interdependence. This is because the team's total score is the aggregation of all individual scores.

delegation: are the following true or false If an employee fails to accept accountability for a task that was assigned to her, the delegation attempt will fail. Delegation is always initiated by the manager's assignment of a task to a subordinate. The final step in delegation is the subordinate's acceptance of the obligation. Delegation involves the assignment of responsibility, authority, and accountability. Accountability is only established if the manager assigns responsibility and the subordinate accepts it.

true

The owner of the business where you work has asked you to assess whether restructuring the reporting relationships at the company would improve the ability of employees to meet the needs of customers. What do you recommend? Check all that apply. A flatter structure will further centralize decision making. A flatter structure should result in higher levels of employee morale and productivity. A taller structure will decrease administrative costs. A taller structure will improve the speed at which decisions are implemented.

A flatter structure should result in higher levels of employee morale and productivity. Organizations that empower employees to meet the needs of customers and strive for efficiency tend to be flatter in structure. The taller an organization is, the more layers of authority and bureaucracy. Taller organizations have higher administrative costs, because of the layers of management. If your organization seeks to empower employees and to increase efficiency, a flatter structure should be recommended

A major element of organizing is coordination. The primary reason for coordination is that work groups are interdependent. The lowest level of interdependence is called (pooled / sequential / reciprocal) interdependence

pooled Pooled interdependence is the lowest level. Essentially, each person acts independently, and then each person's production is combined (or "pooled").

A major element of organizing is coordination. The primary reason for coordination is that work groups are interdependent. The most complex level of interdependence is called (pooled / sequential / reciprocal) interdependence

reciprocal Reciprocal interdependence is the most complex level. Each team member relies on another to accomplish tasks.

Which type of interdependence is best represented by a one-way highway? Reciprocal interdependence Sequential interdependence Pooled interdependence

sequential This is because the output of one unit becomes the input for another in a sequential fashion. The flow of work is only in one direction. Reciprocal interdependence would be depicted as a two-way road.

line vs staff? this position is intended to provide support for line positions. house example: receptionist, accountant, inspector hospital example: receptionist, accountant, janitor, security guard university example: receptionist, financial aid officer, librarian, advisor

staff These jobs are necessary for the organization to operate, but are not directly involved in the design and construction of buildings. In a hospital, the primary goal is to treat patients. Therefore, doctors and nurses are in line positions. The other jobs are necessary for the hospital to operate, but are not directly involved in the treatment of patients.

Which form of departmentalization is best if the company seeks to minimize duplication of efforts? Function Product Customer Location

Product Product departmentalization groups jobs that are related to a single product together.

In what direction does work flow in an organization characterized by sequential interdependence? Work flows in reverse Work flows in multiple directions Work flows in only one direction

Work flows in only one direction

Which form of departmentalization is best if the regions in which the company competes have unique environmental characteristics? Location Product Customer Function

Location Location, or geographic, departmentalization groups jobs according to physical site.

To align the jobs at Ancestry with the company's strategy, you've decided that the genealogist job should be redesigned. You've also determined that taking the job characteristics approach to job design will yield the best results. Which step will you take to enhance how valued each employee feels he or she is? -Give the genealogists feedback on their performance at the end of each project. -Publicize which genealogists were involved in which completed historical projects so that the employees feel they identify with the total job. -Communicate the importance of the tasks performed to increase task significance. -Increase each employee's autonomy, so that they feel they have more control over how the work is performed.

Communicate the importance of the tasks performed to increase task significance. The job characteristics model suggests that jobs be diagnosed and improved along five core dimensions including skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. For employees to feel that their work is valued or important, you should increase task significance.

The type of sports team that best exemplifies reciprocal interdependence is the (track / baseball / basketball) team because the team members are actively passing and receiving and adjusting their work based on the actions of others.

basketball

With fewer managers and more people in positions without managerial accountability, which building block will you rely upon to ensure jobs are properly supervised? also, If your organization evolves to have fewer positions of authority, as a top manager of that organization, how would you ensure that the necessary control is still in place? Differentiating among positions Coordinating activities among jobs Grouping jobs Distributing authority among jobs

Distributing authority among jobs

Projects often span jobs and departments. Which building block will you rely upon to ensure that the project development process runs smoothly and efficiently? Differentiating among positions Grouping jobs Distributing authority among jobs Coordinating activities among jobs

Coordinating activities among jobs There are six basic building blocks that managers can use to construct an organization: designing jobs, grouping jobs, establishing reporting relationships between jobs, distributing authority among jobs, coordinating activities among jobs, and differentiating among positions. To work together, coordinating activities must be in place.

Some of the jobs mentioned in the article didn't even exist a dozen years ago, and new jobs are emerging every year. If you needed to incorporate such new roles into your organization, which basic building block would serve as your starting point? also, Imagine that you are the hiring manager at a corporation like GE, with businesses in the healthcare, renewable energy, and operations data fields. Which basic building block of structure would you use as you scale down on managerial positions and scale up on engineering positions? Differentiating among positions Establishing reporting relationships Distributing authority among jobs Designing jobs

Designing jobs The logical starting point is to design jobs for the people in the organization. For jobs that don't already exist, this will be a necessary step before the other building blocks are relevant. There are six basic building blocks that managers can use to construct an organization: designing jobs, grouping jobs, establishing reporting relationships between jobs, distributing authority among jobs, coordinating activities among jobs, and differentiating among positions. Deciding what kind of jobs you are going to have is part of the designing jobs building block.

Ancestry asks you if it could use job enlargement, which would enable the company to use fewer employees to accomplish the same tasks. Which reason do you give when you advise the company against job enlargement? Employees may feel they should be paid more because they are doing more tasks. Training costs decrease. Employees prefer highly specialized jobs. Job satisfaction increases.

Employees may feel they should be paid more because they are doing more tasks. Job enlargement increases the total number of tasks workers perform. Employees may feel that they then deserve more pay for doing more.

The owner of the business where you work has asked for your advice on restructuring the organization. You know that customer service is the cornerstone of the company. What do you recommend? Check all that apply. A flatter structure will further centralize decision making. Flatter structures are appropriate for organizations which empower employees to solve customer problems. With a tall structure, supervisors can avoid hearing about customer complaints. A taller structure will improve the speed at which decisions are implemented.

Flatter structures are appropriate for organizations which empower employees to solve customer problems. Organizations that empower employees to meet the needs of customers and strive for efficiency tend to be flatter in structure. The taller an organization is, the more layers of authority and bureaucracy. Taller organizations have higher administrative costs, because of the layers of management. If your organization seeks to empower employees and to increase efficiency, a flatter structure should be recommended.

In your recommendations to Ancestry, you suggest the company seek to enrich the jobs of the genealogists. Which of the following suggestions would result in job enrichment? -The genealogist staff could be divided into those who focus on digital records and those who deal with traditional records. -The genealogists could learn to analyze and enter data in one unified step. -The genealogists with the best performance could be awarded the opportunity to work on the more interesting family histories. -Genealogists like Crista could determine for themselves when the ancestral trail warranted the acquisition of additional data from external sources.

Genealogists like Crista could determine for themselves when the ancestral trail warranted the acquisition of additional data from external sources. Job enrichment attempts to increase the number of tasks and the level of control the employee feels over the job. The correct answer points out that the genealogists could determine for themselves when they need additional data. This self-determination is a characteristic of job enrichment. The other possible answers do not meet the definition of job enrichment.

To align the jobs at Ancestry with the company's strategy, you've decided that the genealogist job should be redesigned. You've also determined that taking the job characteristics approach to job design will yield the best results. Which step will you take to ensure that the employees feel their jobs are enriching? Increase each employee's autonomy, so that they feel they have more control over how the work is performed. Publicize which genealogists were involved in which completed historical projects, so that the employees feel they identify with the total job. Communicate the importance of the tasks performed to increase task significance. Give the genealogists feedback on their performance at the end of each project.

Increase each employee's autonomy, so that they feel they have more control over how the work is performed. The job characteristics model suggests that jobs be diagnosed and improved along five core dimensions including skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Jobs are more enriching when the employees have more control over the job. Thus, increasing autonomy increases job enrichment.

Based on the breadth of tasks fulfilled by genealogists at Ancestry described in the article, which alternative to job specialization has likely been used in job design to overcome the problems associated with overly specialized jobs? Job rotation Work teams Job enlargement Job enrichment

Job enlargement Because the genealogists at Ancestry complete several types of tasks, we could conclude that the job design included an enlargement aspect. The article does not state nor imply that job rotation, work teams, or job enrichment programs have been used.

Which advantage would you cite if you were advising a company to group jobs by product? Requirements for physical space are reduced. Coordinating activities inside each department is easier. Administrative costs are higher. Performance assessments are facilitated.

Performance assessments are facilitated. Product departmentalization makes it easy to integrate and coordinate activities related to a single product and allow accountability of departments. However, managers may tend to favor their departments over others. Administrative costs also rise because functions are duplicated.

To align the jobs at Ancestry with the company's strategy, you've decided that the genealogist job should be redesigned. You've also determined that taking the job characteristics approach to job design will yield the best results. Which step will you take to influence the employees' perception of ownership of the final outcome of a family's ancestral research? Increase each employee's autonomy, so that they feel they have more control over how the work is performed. Give the genealogists feedback on their performance at the end of each project. Communicate the importance of the tasks performed to increase task significance. Publicize which genealogists were involved in which completed historical projects, so that the employees feel they identify with the total job.

Publicize which genealogists were involved in which completed historical projects, so that the employees feel they identify with the total job. The job characteristics model suggests that jobs be diagnosed and improved along five core dimensions including skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. For employees to identify with the total job rather than just component tasks, you should increase task identity.

Which type of interdependence is best represented by a one-way highway? Sequential interdependence Reciprocal interdependence Pooled interdependence

Sequential interdependence Sequential interdependence could be depicted as a one-way road. This is because the output of one unit becomes the input for another in a sequential fashion. The flow of work is only in one direction. Reciprocal interdependence would be depicted as a two-way road.

Which advantage would you cite if you were advising a company to group jobs by type of customer? Tailoring services to meet customer needs is easier. Administrative costs are higher Coordinating activities inside each department is easier. Accountability is decreased.

Tailoring services to meet customer needs is easier. Customer departmentalization groups jobs according to the type of customer served. This allows the company to better meet the needs of different kinds of customers.

You ask Paul to show Michelle, a new employee, the ropes while you are in meetings. Paul replies, "That's not my job." Which reason best explains why your attempt to delegate was not effective? Check all that apply. You didn't assign Paul the responsibility for training Michelle. Delegation is not an effective tool for managers. Paul is reluctant to accept delegation. You didn't grant Paul the authority to train Michelle.

You didn't assign Paul the responsibility for training Michelle. Paul is reluctant to accept delegation. You didn't grant Paul the authority to train Michelle.

Reciprocal interdependence exists when activities flow (both ways / in one direction / do not interact)

flow both ways Activities flow both ways in reciprocally interdependent teams.

line vs staff? the direct chain of command that is responsible for the achievement of an organization's goal. house example: carpenter, brick mason, architect, doctor, nurse hospital example: doctor, nurse university example: professor, academic department chair

line In a construction firm, the primary goal is to build something. Therefore, people in jobs such as brick mason, carpenter, and architect are in line positions. In a hospital, the primary goal is to treat patients. Therefore, doctors and nurses are in line positions. The other jobs are necessary for the hospital to operate, but are not directly involved in the treatment of patients.

is narrow or wide control better? Physically dispersed employees High levels of nonsupervisory work in the manager's job Interdependent work flows Heavy use of unskilled labor Frequent crises at work

narrow Generally, span of control should be narrow when work is highly integrated; employees and supervisors need to interact frequently; staff are widely physically dispersed; new problems arise frequently; and tasks require unique skills and knowledge. The opposite conditions indicate that a wide span of control would be appropriate.

Which basic building block of structure would you use to build departments focused on specific products or clients? Grouping jobs Establishing reporting relationships Distributing authority among jobs Differentiating among positions

Grouping jobs There are six basic building blocks that managers can use to construct an organization: designing jobs, grouping jobs, establishing reporting relationships between jobs, distributing authority among jobs, coordinating activities among jobs, and differentiating among positions. Grouping jobs creates departments.

A typical criticism of highly specialized jobs is that the employees may become bored. Which concern should you warn Ancestry's managers about in the case of its staff of genealogists? Perceived monotony Emotional attachment to families being researched Job satisfaction Lack of self-efficacy in job completion

Perceived monotony The role of genealogist at Ancestry could be perceived as tedious. Like other highly specialized jobs, employees may feel monotony set in.

delegation: are the following true or false "That's not my job" is a good response to a delegated task Responsibility is assigned by the subordinate. The first step in delegation is creating accountability.

false

At Ancestry, even in a job as seemingly specialized as that of genealogist, the component parts of the job are quite varied. If Ancestry asked you to advise the company on restructuring job design, how would you explain a recommendation for further specialization? Specialization increases the transfer time between tasks. When workers perform small, simple tasks, they become very proficient at each task. The workers in highly specialized jobs tend to report higher levels of job satisfaction. Highly specialized workers may feel their jobs are too stimulating.

When workers perform small, simple tasks, they become very proficient at each task. There are four benefits of specialization which you could refer to in making a recommendation to Ancestry. These include enhanced proficiency at tasks, decreased transfer time between tasks, the ability to use equipment to replace human labor for some tasks, and the ability to replace workers easily. At Ancestry, the genealogists are involved in a breadth of tasks which may result in the employees being less proficient at each specific task than they might be if their jobs included less task variety.

Which advantage would you cite if you were advising a company to group jobs by function? Tailoring services to meet customer needs is easier. Administrative costs are higher. Coordinating activities inside each department is easier. Decisions are typically faster and more effective.

Coordinating activities inside each department is easier. Functional departmentalization ensures that jobs are not duplicated in different divisions. Each department can be staffed by experts. Supervision is facilitated because individual managers are very familiar with the set of skills involved.

In your role as management consultant at Ancestry, you've been asked to develop a plan that will enable the organization to utilize job rotation in some job designs. What do you recommend as a necessary step? Assess the amount of autonomy each employee has. Count the number of tasks each employee does in the original job. Measure absenteeism. Cross-train the employees on the other jobs that could fall in their rotation.

Cross-train the employees on the other jobs that could fall in their rotation. Job rotation involves systematically moving employees from one job to another. Therefore, for Ancestry to begin to use job rotation, the employees who would be moved from job to job must be cross-trained on the jobs to which they may be moved. The other answers are not necessary steps to implementing job rotation.

Which form of departmentalization is best if the company services both business clients and end consumers? Product Location Customer Function

Customer Customer departmentalization groups jobs that service each type of customer together. Functional departmentalization groups similar jobs together. Product departmentalization groups jobs that are related to a single product together. Location, or geographic, departmentalization groups jobs according to physical site.

The owner of the business where you work has asked you to identify ways to help the organization react faster to environmental changes. What do you recommend? Check all that apply. A taller structure will improve the speed at which decisions are implemented. A flatter structure will further centralize decision making. A taller structure will decrease administrative costs. Flatter structures lessen bureaucratic red tape, improving the speed of decision making.

Flatter structures lessen bureaucratic red tape, improving the speed of decision making. Organizations that empower employees to meet the needs of customers and strive for efficiency tend to be flatter in structure. The taller an organization is, the more layers of authority and bureaucracy. Taller organizations have higher administrative costs, because of the layers of management. If your organization seeks to empower employees and to increase efficiency, a flatter structure should be recommended.

You've just hired a new employee, Michelle, and she's eager to learn how things are done. Unfortunately, you've been pulled into several unexpected meetings. You could ask Paul to show Michelle the ropes while you are in the meetings, but you hesitate. Which reason might explain your reluctance to assign this task to Paul? Check all that apply. You don't want to be upstaged by Paul. You are a micro-manager. You are worried that Paul won't do a good job training Michelle. Training isn't part of Paul's job description.

You don't want to be upstaged by Paul. You are a micro-manager. You are worried that Paul won't do a good job training Michelle. Delegation is an important skill for managers. As demonstrated by this scenario, delegation can serve as a solution when managers can't be in two places at once! Delegation offers benefits to the subordinate who is assigned the task, too. Subordinates gain valuable professional development opportunities. They may feel that their jobs are enriched by the additional accountability and responsibility. They may feel more job satisfaction and organizational commitment. There are problems in delegation, though. Managers may be reluctant, because they are simply too disorganized to plan for the delegation of the task, because they fear the subordinate will fail at the task, or because they fear that the subordinate may become a threat to their own career. Employees may hesitate to accept delegated tasks if they do not want added responsibility, or if they want to avoid the risk of failing at the task

is narrow or wide control better? A highly competent supervisor Little interaction required between manager and subordinates Task specialization Highly competent managers A highly competent subordinate Low levels of nonsupervisory work in the manager's jobStandardized procedures

wide Several factors affect the span of management, also known as the span of control. These include the competence of the supervisor and subordinates, the physical dispersion of subordinates, the extent of nonsupervisory work, the degree of required interaction, the extent of standardized procedures, the similarity of tasks being supervised, the frequency of new problems, and the preferences of supervisors and subordinates. Generally, span of control should be narrow when work is highly integrated; employees and supervisors need to interact frequently; staff are widely physically dispersed; new problems arise frequently; and tasks require unique skills and knowledge. The opposite conditions indicate that a wide span of control would be appropriate.