MANA-3318-Chapter 15

86. Explain why increasing organizational differentiation requires greater integration.

As an organization grows and develops, additional tasks, jobs, activities, programs, and/or departments are created. In short, the organization contains more parts and/or activities. The parts have to be coordinated: integrative devices (rules, information systems, task forces, and others) are necessary to tie the parts together to facilitate goal accomplishment.

85. Briefly discuss the criteria on which departmentalization is based.

Business firms can be organized by function (marketing, finance, production, and human resources), product (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Pontiac), geographic area (East Coast, Southeast, Midwest, and West), client or customer (men, women, children, athletes, and other groups), and process. They can also be organized in various combinations of the above.

87. For each of the five structural configurations, identify an appropriate integrative mechanism.

For a simple structure, integration can be accomplished through direct supervision by owner or top manager. Standard operating rules and procedures function as integrative mechanisms in the large-scale machine bureaucracy. The professional bureaucracy is integrated through the professional skill and knowledge of its employees or members. Minimum quality standards of output provide integration in the divisionalized form. A temporary task force or project team function as integration in the adhocracy.

89. What are some distinguishing characteristics of the external environment of a large commercial airline?

The environment of the commercial airline industry can be very volatile when fuel prices fluctuate significantly in the short run, individual airlines adjust airfares up or down by a few to hundreds of dollars, airline employees strike, a terrorist threat is made to an airline, or bad weather interrupts air travel. The airline environment is changing, dynamic, complex, and may be subject to significant financial loss even when more tickets are sold.

88. What are the defining characteristics of the Woodward, Perrow, and Thompson approaches to technology.

Woodward used a technical complexity scale to classify organizations into unit, mass, or process types of production. This model can be used on both large and small organizations. Perrow used task variety and problem analyzability to classify technology at the department level and above. Thompson focused on inter- dependence with the general conclusion that increased inter-dependence leads to greater organizational complexity with a corresponding need for decentralized decision making.

12. gives an organization political and legal advantages in a country because it is identified as a local company.

a. Spatial differentiation

32. For an organization to take advantage of its larger size in the 21st century, it must become:

a. centerless with a global core

1. Organizational design is a process of specifying structural features of an organization. This process begins with:

a. determining the organization's goals.

23. A moderately decentralized form of organization that emphasizes a support staff and standardization of work processes defines the:

a. machine bureaucracy.

7. Complexity refers to the:

a. number of activities, subunits, or subsystems within an organization.

33. The tools, techniques, and actions used by an organization to transform inputs into outputs are together called the: .

a. organization's technology

22. A centralized form of organization that emphasizes the upper echelon and direct supervision under Mintzberg's configurations is the:

a. simple structure.

37. Utilizing Perrow's framework of technology, problem analyzability refers to:

a. the amount and type of information needed to respond to task exceptions.

2. An organization chart shows:

a. the formal lines of authority and responsibility.

34. According to Woodward's classification of different technologies, the technology of custom home building is:

a. unit or small batch in nature.

27. Which of the following is NOT a major contextual variable of organizational design?

b. Leadership style

25. The configuration that would best fuse interdisciplinary experts through ad hoc project teams and mutual adjustment is the:

b. adhocracy.

42. An organization that faces considerable environmental uncertainty and rapid change is more likely to be successful with:

b. an organic structure.

31. When examining the relationship between size and basic design dimensions, it can be concluded that small organizations are more than large organizations.

b. centralized

13. The process of coordinating the different parts of an organization is called:

b. integration.

24. An automobile plant with routinized operating tasks is most likely to use a(n) .

b. machine bureaucracy

30. In a small organization (cafe, service station, or real estate office), supervision of employees and management control are most commonly done through:

b. personal observation by the manager.

16. The extent to which work activities are defined and routinely performed the same way is known as:

b. standardization.

10. When comparing the time orientation of a supervisor and corporate president, the supervisor is more likely to concentrate on:

b. weekly production targets.

45. Which of the following statements regarding complexity and the strategic decision process is NOT true?

c. As complexity increases, the strategic process will be constrained by the limitations of top managers.

41. Which of the following competitive or market environments would be considered relatively stable?

c. Can manufacturing

18. Which of the following departments would probably have the most flexible structure?

c. Research and development

20. The Royal Bank of Canada moved its loan-processing work from its headquarters to its branch banks in order to avoid bottlenecks. This is an example of:

c. decentralization

4. The process of breaking organizational goals into tasks and dividing work is known as:

c. differentiation.

17. The degree to which an organization has official rules, regulations, and procedures is called:

c. formalization

39. Conditions that include political considerations, broad economic factors, ecological changes, sociocultural demands, and government regulation are considered to be part of the:

c. general environment.

5. The degree of differentiation most affected by employee's specialized knowledge, education, or training is known as:

c. horizontal differentiation.

35. The introduction and use of computer-aided manufacturing and networked information and communication systems have been associated with all of the following except: a. broadened span of control. b. flattened or delayered organization structures. c. increased upward mobility or promotion opportunities. d. enhanced technical knowledge requirements.

c. increased upward mobility or promotion opportunities.

36. Woodward's classification theme of technology (large batch, small batch, and continuous process) led to the conclusion that the more complex the technology, the:

c. more complex the administrative component of the organization needs to be.

47. In contrasting structural roles of managers today with managers of the future managers:

c. must encourage cross-functional collaboration.

43. If an organization confronts a situation with scarce resources, large amounts of change, and many competitors, the situation would be considered one:

c. of high environmental uncertainty.

3. The process of constructing and adjusting an organization's structure to achieve its goals is called:

c. organizational design.

38. Anything outside the boundaries of an organization is considered:

c. the environment.

28. Which of the following contextual variables are LEAST controllable by the organization?

d. Environment

44. Which of the following statements regarding the fit between structure and relevant contextual dimensions is NOT true?

d. The better the fit, the more likely the structure will determine the strategy and goals of an organization

26. NASA, which is composed of many talented experts who work in small teams on a wide range of projects, is probably organized as a(n):

d. adhocracy.

48. To meet the conflicting demands of efficiency and customization, organizations need to:

d. become dynamically stable.

50. All of the following are emerging organizational structures except: a. circle. b. network. c. virtual. d. cellular.

d. cellular.

19. A tall hierarchy of authority is usually associated with:

d. centralization structures.

40. The part of an organization's external environment that the organization claims for itself with respect to how it fits into its relevant environments is known as the:

d. domain.

49. Emerging organizational structures will emphasize all of the following except: a. multiple competencies. b. process rather than function. c. self-managed teams. d. extensive vertical differentiation.

d. extensive vertical differentiation.

46. Short product and organizational life cycles place considerable emphasis on:

d. flexibility and efficiency.

15. A highly bureaucratized organization, such as the Social Security Administration, exhibits all of the following characteristics except: a. specialization. b. standardization. c. tall hierarchy. d. flexible structure.

d. flexible structure.

8. In their research on differentiation, Lawrence and Lorsch found that all of the following dimensions reflected differentiation except:

d. hierarchical control.

11. Flat organizational structures are characterized by:

d. high ratios of employees to supervisors.

29. The most appropriate measure of organization size when considering alternative structural designs is:

d. number of employees.

21. Among Mintzberg's fundamental elements, the faculty of a university comprises the .

d. operating core

9. The particular grouping of activities or division of labor performed by an individual is referred to as:

d. specialization.

14. The strongest method of horizontal integration is through:

d. teams.

6. The difference between the authority and responsibility in an organizational hierarchy is called:

d. vertical differentiation.