OB-- Chapter 15

Which organization is likely to have an extremely mechanistic structure?

A mass production firm in a very certain environment.

Which of the following is an example of strategic alliance?

Bloggs Corporation and Sigma Limited join an R&D consortium.

Which characteristic of advanced manufacturing technology permits the exploitation of short-term market niches?

Flexibility

Theoretically, which combination of technological characteristics requires the most organic structure?

Nonroutine; high interdependence

Who was interested in the rountineness of the transformation task that confronts the department or organization?

Perrow

Which of the following does Woodward's unit technology incorporate aspects of?

Perrow's craft and engineering technologies and Thompson's intensive technology

Which of the following does Woodward's mass technology incorporate aspects of?

Perrow's routine technology and Thompson's Long-linked technology

According to Joan Woodward's findings, which technology has the smoothest production process and the most impersonal task requirements?

Process

Who was interested in the way in which activities are sequenced or "put together" during the transformation process?

Thompson

What strategic reason might prompt an organization in one industry to acquire a firm in a completely different industry.

To reduce resource dependance

A tailor shop that sews its suits to customer specifications has which kind of technology?

Unit

According to Joan Woodward's findings, which technologies successfully rely on organic structures?

Unit and process

Research on Woodward's production processes found that successful firms that relied on organic structures had what kind of technology?

Unit and process

According to Woodward, which of the following reflects increasing smoothness of production and increasing impersonalization of task requirements?

Unit, Mass, Process

Whose research is considered to be landmark in demonstrating the general proposition that structure must be tailored to true technology that the organization adopts to achieve its strategic goals?

Woodward

A network organization is a good example of

a strategic alliance

The components of a highly dynamic environment

are in a constant state of unpredictable and irregular change.

At what point in the relationship between the environment and strategy does managerial experience and personality play a role?

between the objective environment and the perceived environment

Advanced information technology has the capacity to _____ and organization.

centralize or decentralize

Technological rountineness is a function of

exceptions and problems

As defined and described in the text, interest groups do not

exist within an organization

The application of advanced office technology is generally expected to lead to ______.

flatter organizational structures

Mutual adjustment and an organic structure are required by

intensive technologies

Other things equal, more ______ technologies call for more _____ structures.

intensive; organic

By definition, open systems

interact with their environments

The Lawrence and Lorsch study is important because

it demonstrated a close connection between environment, structure, and effectiveness.

What is the meaning of the "flexibility" of information technology?

it is not deterministic of a particular organization structure or job design

Which of the following best represents the environmental and strategic concerns that have stimulated the adoption of advanced office technology?

labour saving, responsiveness, improved decision making

When properly implemented, advanced technologies often call for

less tall structures.

What comprises the basis for strategy formulation?

objective environment

In the text, organizational structure, degree of vertical integration, and the composition of a board of directors were examples of

strategy implementation

Woodward's research is considered to be a landmark in demonstrating which proposition?

structure must be tailored to the technology the organization adopts to achieve its strategic goals

By definition, a strategic alliance would not occur between

two departments in the same company

After graduating from university, Joan is planning to start her own business. She wants to have her own chain of coffee bars. But that's not all. She plans to import, roast, and package her own brand of coffee. What is this a good example of?

vertical integration

Which of the following would not be classed as a strategic alliance?

Company A buys Company B

Other things equal, which of the following organizational environments is most uncertain?

Complex and dynamic

Which of the following is an example of vertical integration?

A diamond mine starts to maker diamond rings.

Which of the following is an example of vertical integration?

A newsprint manufacturer owns a forestry company.

Which is the best example of pooled interdependence?

A taxi company

Which of the following statements concerning technologies is false?

An assembly line operation is an example of engineering technology.

Which is the best example of sequential interdependence?

An automobile assembly line

Which of the following statements concerning the external environments is true?

Different parts of an organization will often be concerned with different components of its environment.

Which of the following technologies is characterized by many exceptions which are easy to analyze?

Engineering technology

Copying another firm's management practices is an example of which strategic response?

Establishment of Legitimacy

Which technology poses the greatest problems of coordination, communication, and decision-making ?

Intensive

Which of the following is an example of a director interlock?

Jane is on the boards of Ajax Company and Acme Company.

Research on Woodward's production processed found that successful firms that relied on mechanistic structures had what kind of technology?

Mass

Which technology will perform best under a mechanistic structure?

Mass

Which form of technological interdependence poses the greatest coordination, communication, and decision-making problems?

Reciprocal

Which is the correct ordering of Perrow"s four technological classifications from most routine to least routine?

Routine, engineering, craft, nonrountine

What is the relationship between resource dependance and environmental uncertainty?

They are fairly independent concepts.

Other factors equal, which of the following organizational characteristics suggest that an organic structure should be adopted?

Uncertain environment

When are strategic alliances most successful?

When there is a director of strategic alliances with his/her own staff and resources

Who conducted the most famous study of the relationship between technology and structure?

Woodward

In on the board of directors of Vulcan Inc., and you are on the board of directors of Zeus Ltd. What are the minimum conditions to claim that an interlock of directors exist here?

You are also on the Vulcan board.

Enriched jobs and self-manger work teams are usually prescribed for _____ technology.

advanced manufacturing

What strategic response helped WestJet get off the ground in its formative year?

establishing legitimacy

What is the most common way of achieving Legitimacy?

imitate management practices that other firms have institutionalized

The organization that has adopted CAD

makes extensive use of computer in deigning its products

According to Joan Woodward's findings, which technologies successfully rely on mechanistic structures?

mass

Research on the environment, structure, and effectiveness has found that

mature organizations with a more organic structure and new ventures with a more mechanistic structure are most effective

A regulatory agency is most likely a part of which environmental component faced by a business firm?

social/political component

Strategy formulation follows directly from

the perceived environment.

In the Lawrence and Lorsch study, the most successful container manufacturing firms adopted mechanistic structures because

they faced a fairly certain environment and were highly undifferentiated.

A jewelry company buys a gold mine. This is an example of

vertical integration.

The :two faces" of advanced information technology refers to

The idea that the same technology can have opposite depending upon how it is applied.