MGT 2010 Exam 3 Study Guide

Which of the following reflects the organization's investment in attracting, retaining, and motivating an effective workforce?

Human capital

When a wronged employee discusses an alleged contract violation with the immediate supervisor, which process has been initiated?

A grievance procedure

Franchesca, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a tea manufacturing company, has a very thorough selection procedure while hiring employees. As a result, most of the employees in her company are very competent and are well trained. In this scenario, which of the following will be most effective in Franchesca's company?

A wide span of management

Eli, a 50-year-old computer expert, applied at a software firm, but he was not given the job. He was told that the firm was looking for someone who can design software for the younger generation, who use mobile technology. Which act did this firm violate?

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

Ugar knows when he is doing a good job and when he is producing at a high level of quality. Which job characteristic allows Ugar to know this?

Feedback

Ahmed wants to improve productivity and employee morale while cutting costs. Which organizational structure will allow him to do this?

Flat

To manage its growing employee base, East Spring Company has created a new department that is responsible for attracting and retaining a qualified workforce. This action demonstrates the company's commitment to invest in which type of capital?

Human

What is the set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective workforce?

Human resource management

Jin is the warehouse manager at a bottling company. Employees are on a four-week schedule during which each employee spends one week loading trucks, unloading trucks, verifying invoices, and pulling inventory from storage. Which approach to job design is Jin using?

Rotation

What is the clear and distinct line of authority among the positions in an organization?

Chain of command

Which of the following describes the process of linking the activities of the various departments of the organization?

Coordination

How can an organization test the effectiveness of its training programs?

Measuring criteria before and after training

Which of the following factors favors a narrow span of management?

More nonsupervisory work in a manager's job

Why is coordination important for organizations when working to perform effectively?

Most departments are interdependent.

Which of the following refers to the set of elements that can be used to configure a company?

Organizational structure

Yui needs to conduct an assessment of how well employees are doing their jobs so that she can determine training needs. What should Yui use?

Performance appraisal

Arayla is not directly working on the project, but she acts as a facilitator of communication between the groups who are. She has no formal authority but is very familiar with what all group members are doing. What is Arayla's role in the coordination effort?

Liaison role

What is the type of position that is in the direct chain of command and is responsible for the achievement of an organization's goals?

Line

According to Graicunas, which type of interaction is between subordinates only?

Cross

Rabeya has been doing business with the same bank for years. She knows that when she needs a car loan, she needs to see L'Meese. When she needs advice about investments, she sees Sushil, and when she has questions about her checking and savings accounts, she sees Tariq. How has Rabeya's bank set up its departmentalization process?

Customer group

As his company has grown, Geert finds that he can no longer manage everything. He is now working to group jobs together in some way that makes sense for the workers and managers. What is Geert trying to establish?

Departmentalization

What is the advantage of the functional departmentalization approach for a small organization?

Departments can be staffed by experts.

Ozlem's organization has experienced tremendous growth over the last three years. She uses functional departmentalization. Why might this become a disadvantage for her?

Employees have a narrow focus on their own unit, not the total system.

The firefighters in several cities in the area have been working long hours, and they feel they are underpaid. They have been picketing for increased wages, additional staff, and fewer hours. However, they are considered essential to the security of the country. What can be done to force them back to work?

Enforce the National Emergency Strike provision.

Ramkumar has designed his work unit so that they work together and perform interrelated tasks. The work flows from one person to the next and the people performing the work can decide how the jobs are allocated. Which alternative to specialization does Ramkumar use?

Work teams

Aviva fell at work and broke her foot. Which type of benefit can she expect from her employer?

Workers' compensation Each point on the scale is accompanied by a behavioral anchor.

According to Graicunas, direct interactions refer to _____.

a manager's one-to-one relationship with each subordinate

The principal of a school has the responsibility of finalizing the school curriculum for the new academic year. A council of teachers advises the principal on matters that should be included in the school curriculum. It is the principal's duty to hear what the council recommends. The principal has the liberty to heed it or ignore it. In this scenario, the council is an example of a form of staff authority called _____.

compulsory advice

Ralph C. Davis suggested two different kinds of spans, which depend on the position in the organization. Which type of span did he suggest for lower-level managers?

Operative

Butterfly Wings, a women's lifestyle store, decides to departmentalize. Liam, the manager of the store, selects the following divisions: dresses, accessories, T-shirts, and footwear. Which of the following methods of departmentalization does Liam use?

Product departmentalization

Under customer departmentalization, an organization _____.

structures its activities to respond to and interact with specific consumers or consumer groups

Which of the following job elements is listed under the job specification?

Abilities

What is a disadvantage of product departmentalization?

Administrative costs are increased.

What is the degree to which managerial positions are concentrated in staff positions?

Administrative intensity

Which of the following best describes affirmative action?

Affirmative action is intentionally hiring qualified employees from underrepresented racial, sexual, and ethnic groups in a firm.

Which dimension of the job characteristics approach deals with the degree of control the worker has over how the work is performed?

Autonomy

Which of the following is typically associated with a tall structure of management?

Communication problems

Hua added additional tasks to the work performed by each employee in an effort to make their jobs more interesting. While he saw some advantages to the new strategy, he also faced disadvantages, as training costs increased and the unions asked for pay increases since the workers were doing more tasks. Which type of job development did Hua implement?

Enlargement

Which alternative to job specialization increases the total number of tasks workers perform without increasing worker control over the job to reduce the level of job dissatisfaction?

Enlargement

As a manager, Dharma encourages her employees to make decisions and tries to increase their level of engagement and responsibility. What does Dharma use to increase job satisfaction?

Enrichment

Aviva tries to assign her employees new and challenging tasks as often as practical to enhance their opportunities for growth and enhancement. Which approach to job design does Aviva use?

Enrichment

Which of the following can a firm use to measure and manage the internal supply of labor so that it best fits the needs of the organization?

Enterprise resource planning systems

Ahmed, the head of human resources (HR), is reviewing a five-year strategic plan that projects 15% annual sales growth. Based on this projection, the human resource department estimates that the company will need an additional 75 employees during the plan period. Which HR planning tool did Ahmed use to identify this need?

Forecasting

Raphael is the human resource manager at a large bottle manufacturing company. Ten years ago, when the business moved to its current location, the company structured operations by grouping together jobs that involved the same or similar activities. Which type of departmentalization structure is this?

Functional

Which type of authority is considered to be one of the most important and is the formal authority over activities related to the staff member's specialty?

Functional

Amina has three employees who are working with two of Jolanta's employees to fix a flaw in the design of a new product. According to Graicunas, which type of interaction do these five employees have?

Group

Arayla was working on performance reviews for her staff. While she was working on them, she was interrupted by a call from a client who wanted to share with Arayla how much they enjoyed working with the new account manager Arayla assigned to them. How might this information cause Arayla to make a halo error on that employee's performance appraisal?

If the feedback is used to assess her performance across multiple dimensions

Which type of decision addresses what to pay each specific employee in a particular job?

Individual wage decision

What is a consideration of current employees as candidates for openings?

Internal recruiting

Which of the following is true of ranking, a common method of employee appraisal?

It compares employees directly with each other and orders them from best to worst.

Which of the following is true of organizational structure?

It encompasses designing jobs in an organization.

Which of the following is true of job rotation?

It involves moving employees from one job to another.

What happens to speed and effectiveness when using product departmentalization?

It is enhanced.

When an agreement for a labor contract has been reached, what must occur before it becomes binding?

It must be ratified by membership.

Which of the following is a disadvantage of internal recruiting?

Its ripple effect through the organization

Which approach to job design takes into account the work system and employee preferences by considering the core dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback?

Job characteristics

Simon is a professional basketball player. Even though he loves his job, he sometimes feels that practice games are monotonous. In order to keep Simon engaged in the sport, his coach has asked him to coach junior members of the team. Which of the following methods of job design has Simon's coach implemented?

Job enrichment

Which of the following attempts to increase both the number of tasks a worker does and the control the worker has over the job?

Job enrichment

What is the management process of dealing with employees who are represented by a union?

Labor relations

Which type of authority is considered the formal or legitimate authority created by the organizational hierarchy?

Line authority

Azim has structured his nationwide organization so that each unit can respond to the environment in which it does business. This allows his organization to meet the needs of local industries they sell to. Which type of departmentalization does Azim use?

Location

Zereth has set up her organization based on product departmentalization. What is the advantage of this approach?

Objective assessment of product groups

Which of the following best describes the technique of hierarchy as a structural coordination technique?

One manager is placed in charge of interdependent departments or units.

Nita runs her organization as a series of separate departments, each with their own profit and loss center. Typically, a problem in one will not affect the outcomes of another. Which type of coordination does Nita use?

Pooled interdependence

Nour has identified future staffing needs and is now comparing those to internal supply. What is Nour hoping to determine by making this comparison?

Potential shortfalls or overstaffing

Which of the following is an advantage of job specialization?

Proficiency at each task

Julius knows how costly it can be when the wrong person is hired for a position. To help minimize hiring mistakes, Julius tries to ensure the candidate knows as much as possible about the position for which he or she is applying. What is Julius using to help provide an accurate idea of the job?

Realistic job preview

Which of the following exists when activities flow both ways between units?

Reciprocal interdependence

What is the process of attracting qualified individuals to apply for jobs that are open?

Recruiting

Which of the following lists each important managerial position, who occupies it, and how long he or she will probably stay in it before moving on?

Replacement chart

Apoorva is designing a training program for her account managers. She wants them to learn new skills in interpersonal contact and group decision making. Which type of training should Apoorva consider?

Role-playing

Mikel has set up his company so that there is an unbroken line of authority with him at the top. This extends to every position in the organization. This makes Mikel ultimately responsible for everything that goes on in his company. What did Mikel use to set up this chain of authority?

Scalar principle

Pallavi's university requires all seniors to register for classes on Monday, juniors on Tuesday, sophomores on Wednesday, and freshmen on Thursday. If you miss your appropriate day, you can register on Friday. Which type of departmentalization does her university use for class registration?

Sequence

Yui's plant supplies parts for a large manufacturing firm. If Yui's plant ships the parts late, the manufacturing plant might have to temporarily shut down if it cannot produce its products because of the delay. Which type of relationship does Yui's plant have with the manufacturing plant?

Sequential interdependence

Nila needs to set up a meeting with several managers. She wants to find the date and time when everyone is available. How can digital coordination help her with this process?

She can view the online calendar of each manager.

Avec wants to use a job design approach that allows workers to become very proficient at each task, that reduces transfer time between tasks, and that makes it easy for someone else to step in when a worker is absent or resigns. Which approach to job design will provide those benefits to Avec?

Specialization

Payal runs the shipping department and has broken down jobs to include reviews, packages, labels, and dispatch of products. The shipping department structures job tasks into small, simple activities. Each employee has become very proficient at his or her assigned tasks, and transfer time between tasks is an average of only 15 seconds. Which approach to running the shipping department does Payal use?

Specialization

Manoj is responsible for providing expertise, advice, and support for employees. Which type of role does Manoj have in his organization?

Staff

When there is a surplus, which type of position represents a drain on an organization's cash and an inefficient use of resources?

Staff positions

Which dimension of the job characteristics approach deals with the perceived importance of the task?

Task significance

In general, what is the relationship between the amount of interaction that is required and the span of control?

The more interaction required, the narrower the span should be.

Which of the following makes judgmental methods of performance review, such as ranking, difficult and potentially ineffective?

They do not account for individual strengths and weaknesses.

Zero Defect Machinery (ZDM) has very few women working on the plant floor, and all managers are men. This raises concerns that ZDM may be violating _____.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Which act requires employment decisions be made on the basis of a person's qualifications rather than on personal bias?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

What is the purpose of arbitration during a contract dispute?

To resolve contract disputes

Which of the following suggests that each person within an organization must have a clear reporting relationship and report to only one boss?

Unity of command

When are rules and procedures most effective?

When the work is routine

Michael has assigned a supervisor to each of the work groups across all departments. Michael has taken the responsibility of coordinating between the supervisors to track their progress. In this scenario, Michael is _____.

developing an organizational structure

Email, a tool that makes it easier for people to communicate with each other, is a type of _____.

digital coordination

To enhance the speed and effectiveness of decision making, Paramita is restructuring the organization around product lines. She wants each product line to act as its own profit and loss center, and for managers to make decisions on how to modify these lines. Paramita is using pooled interdependence for these groups. These groups will _____.

have very few linkages between the divisions

Sales commissions and bonuses represent special compensation opportunities that are usually tied to performance, and they are examples of _____.

incentives

Declines in union labor occurred because of downward trends in _____.

manufacturing sectors

At a car rental agency, reservations provide greeters with information about how many cars are being rented and returned each day and at what time. The maintenance staff responsible for cleaning and fueling the cars, as well as performing other routine maintenance, need to know which cars to prepare and when. If any of these groups does not do its jobs properly, the others will be affected. This is an example of _____.

reciprocal interdependence

The Fair Labor Standards Act _____.

requires the payment of overtime rates for work in excess of 40 hours per week

The planning committee of a school has a meeting concerning its annual sports event. It decides to temporarily form a committee comprising one representative from each grade. The responsibility of these representatives will be to coordinate different activities in sports for their grades in accordance with certain school guidelines. The committee of representatives used to maintain coordination is an example of a(n) _____.

task force

The span of management indicates _____.

the number of people who report to a particular manager

In the context of the job characteristics approach, skill variety refers to _____.

the number of things a person does in a job