BMGT 2200 - Ch 15

T or F: Knowledge integration occurs when information is shared and accumulated across different parts of an organization.

True

T or F: Knowledge needs to be put into some type of repository or organizational memory if it is to be used in the future.

True

T or F: Modular Structure is useful when a company can identify product modules and create design interfaces that allow it to assemble parts into a working order.

True

A change in the appearance or the performance of a product or a service or the creation of a new one is known as:

product innovation

When an activity fails to deliver its expected results or outcomes, it is known as:

failure

List four common denominators among organizations:

1. Coordination of Effort 2. Aligned Goals 3. Division of labor 4. Hierarchy of Authority

Corporate financial strategies and goals generally fall into two buckets:

1. Revenue growth 2. Productivity growth

The learning and growth perspective focuses on providing employees with the capabilities, resources, and work environment they need to achieve the following goals (list 3):

1. customer 2. internal business processes 3. financial

Typical metrics of the learning and growth perspective include (list at least 5 out of 7):

1. employee satisfaction/engagement 2. employee retention 3. employee productivity 4. training budget per employee 5. technology utilization 6. organizational climate 7. organizational culture

The balanced scorecard provides managers with a comprehensive view of the organization in terms of the following four perspectives:

1. financial 2. customer 3. internal business processes 4. learning and growth

Managers of internal virtual structures need to make sure they (list 3):

1. have the right people 2. get them together often enough 3. use the right type of technology to coordinate activities

Researchers have shown that organizations learn by using the following five independent subprocesses:

1. information acquisition 2. information distribution 3. information interpretation 4. knowledge integration 5. organization memory

Four critical high-level internal processes include:

1. innovation 2. customer service and satisfaction 3. operational excellence 4. good corporate citizenship

List the seven components of an innovation system:

1. innovation strategy 2. committed leadership 3. innovative culture and climate 4. required structure and processes 5. necessary human capital 6. human resource policies, practices, and procedures 7. appropriate resources

Virtual structures are classified into two different types:

1. internal 2. networked

The balanced scorecard measures items such as (list at least 5 out of 7):

1. market share 2. customer acquisition 3. customer retention 4. customer satisfaction/loyalty 5. product/service quality 6. response time 7. percentage of bids won

A formal hierarchy of authority is important because it shows the (list 2):

1. official communication network 2. chain of command

Coordination of Effort is achieved through formulation and enforcement of (list 3):

1. policies 2. rules 3. regulations

The internal business process perspective influences (list 4):

1. productivity 2. efficiency 3. quality 4. safety 5. host of other internal metrics

List four key issues when making organizational design decisions:

1. strategy and goals 2. technology 3. size 4. human resources

The primary benefits of virtual structures are (list 3):

1. the ability for organization to tap into a wider talent pool 2. to increase the speed in getting things done 3. to reduce costs because there is less need for physical facilities and travel budgets

To improve organizational learning, managers should (list 3):

1. use surveys to improve on the five steps of organizational learning 2. they must understand that leader behavior and organizational culture drive organizational learning 3. they can be role models of learning from failure.

_____ innovations are often incremental and are less likely to generate significant amounts of new revenue at one point in time.

Improvement

_____ innovations enhance or upgrade an existing product, service, or process.

Improvement innovations

This kind of organization is one that proactively creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge, and that changes its behavior on the basis of new knowledge and insights. Which is it?

Learning Organization

______ organizations are rigid bureaucracies with strict rules, narrowly defined tasks, top-down communication, and centralized decision making.

Mechanistic

T or F: In a horizontal structure, teams or workgroups, either temporary or permanent, are created to improve collaboration and work on common projects.

True

T or F: Information acquisition, also known as scanning, refers to the process through which an organization obtains information from internal and external sources.

True

_____ innovations focus on creating new market and customers and rely on developing breakthroughs and inventing things that don't already exist

New-direction

_____ innovations take a totally new or different approach to a product, service, process, or industry

New-direction

List one divisional pro and con of organizational design:

Pro: - Increased focus on customers and products - Flexibility in decision making Con: - Divisions' tendency to focus on their own customer groups or products and exclude rest of organization

list one matrix pro and up to three cons of organizational design:

Pro: - combines advantages of functional and divisional Con: - Violates unity of command and decision making can be slow - Political behavior can occur - Requires extensive communication

List one functional pro and con of organizational design:

Pro: saves money and is easy to apply quality standards Con: works best in a stable environment, but is not applicable today

List up to three pros and cons of open and network organizational design:

Pros: - Generate superior returns - Focus on what they do best - Tap into people's specialties Cons: - Give up expertise and control when outsourced - Have to get results from people without direct authority - Need partners that can be trusted

List up to four pros and three cons of horizontal organizational design:

Pros: - Improves communication and coordination - Teams better for creative solutions - Develops new products faster - Knowledge sharing Cons: - Lines of authority less clear - Works when specialization is not important - Requires employees to rise to the challenge of empowerment

T or F: Information distribution pertains to the processes or systems that people, groups, or organizational units use to share information among themselves.

True

T or F: A functional structure groups people according to the business functions they perform, for example, manufacturing, marketing, and finance.

True

T or F: A hollow structure is useful when an organization is faced with strong price competition and there are enough companies to perform the required outsourced processes.

True

T or F: A horizontal structure, sometimes called a team or process structure, relies on a horizontal workflow and attempts to dissolve departmental boundaries and reporting relationships as much as possible.

True

T or F: A modular organization is responsible for ensuring that the outsourced parts meet quality requirements, that the parts arrive in a timely fashion, and that the organization is capable of efficiently combining the parts into the final whole.

True

T or F: A risk-averse culture is a key obstacle to innovation.

True

T or F: An innovation strategy encourages management to invest resources in innovation and generates employee commitment to innovation across the organization.

True

T or F: An innovation strategy, or a plan for being more innovative, requires a company to integrate its innovation activities into its business strategies.

True

T or F: An innovative culture and climate are associated with the creation of new ideas and products.

True

T or F: Application of a matrix structure is not easy, and it can be complex and confusing.

True

T or F: Companies tend to adopt continuous improvement programs in pursuit of upgrades to their internal processes.

True

T or F: Division of labor occurs when the common goal is pursued by individuals performing different but related tasks.

True

T or F: Each of the structures in a traditional approach rely on a vertical hierarchy and attempt to define clear departmental boundaries and reporting relationships.

True

T or F: Each of the structures on an open approach rely on leveraging technology and structural flexibility to maximize potential value through outsourcing and external collaboration.

True

T or F: In a boundaryless organization, the structures are fluid and flexible and relies on telecommuting between geographically dispersed people.

True

T or F: In a divisional structure, employees are segregated into organization groups based on similar products or services, customers or clients, or geographic regions.

True

T or F: In a functional structure, people who are experts in the same or similar activities are put together.

True

T or F: Innovation requires experimentation, failure, and risk taking, and these are all aspects of an organization's culture.

True

T or F: Moving away from the historical perspective that organizations are closed systems, current thinking is that organizations are open systems and dependent on the external environment for survival.

True

T or F: Networked virtual structures establish a collaborative network of independent firms or individuals in order to create a virtual entity.

True

T or F: Open systems are capable of self-correction, adaptation, and growth, thanks to feedback from the environment.

True

T or F: Organic organizations are more likely to use decentralized decision making and horizontal or open designs.

True

T or F: Some organizations have concluded that using a functional structure divides people too much, ultimately creating silos within the organization.

True

T or F: The "orderliness" of mechanistic structures is expected to produce reliability and consistency in internal processes, thereby resulting in higher efficiency, quality, and timeliness.

True

T or F: The achievement of strategic goals is unlikely without real commitment from senior leaders.

True

T or F: The customer perspective assesses, "how do customers see us?"

True

T or F: The distinction between closed and open systems is a matter of degree.

True

T or F: The divisional structure, sometimes called a product structure or profit center approach, can also create silos within the organization.

True

T or F: The financial perspective assesses, "how do we look to shareholders?"

True

T or F: The hierarchy of authority, also called the chain of command, is a control mechanism dedicated to making sure the right people do the right things at the right time.

True

T or F: The horizontal approach to organizational design tends to focus on work processes—every task and responsibility needed to meet a customer need.

True

T or F: The information interpretation step is all about making sense of the information that organizations have acquired and distributed.

True

T or F: The internal business process perspective assesses, "what must we excel at?"

True

T or F: The learning and growth perspective assesses, "can we continue to improve and create value?"

True

T or F: The more processes that are outsourced, the more the resulting organization is "hollow" and focused on what it does best.

True

T or F: The networked individuals or companies join forces because each possesses core competencies needed for a project or product.

True

The unity of command principle states that each employee should report to:

a single manager

_____ goals start from the companywide strategic plan, then cascade down through the organization so the employees are ______ in their pursuit of common goals.

aligned; aligned

The _____ _____ translates an organization's vision and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures that provides the framework for a strategic measurement and management system.

balanced scorecard (BSC)

A _____ organization is one where management has largely succeeded in breaking down barriers between internal levels, job functions, and departments, as well as reducing external barriers between the organization and those with whom it does business.

boundaryless

A relatively self-sufficient entity; one that is closed to its surrounding environment is known as:

closed system

Historically, managers have maintained the integrity of the hierarchy of authority by adhering to the unity of _____ _____.

command principle

Organizations that are structured to fit the demands of the situation are said to follow the ______ approach to organizational design.

contingency

A _____ structure, also known as a network structure, is designed around a central core of key functions, and outsources other functions to other companies or individuals who can do them cheaper or faster.

hollow

Organizations defined by a _____ approach work hard to flatten hierarchy and organize people around specific segments of the workflow.

horizontal

Teamwork is a common feature of organizations designed ______.

horizontally

The creation of something new that makes money is known as:

innovation

A change in the way a product or a service is conceived, manufactured, or distributed is known as:

process innovation

A coherent set of interdependent processes and structures that dictates how the company searches for novel problems and solutions, synthesizes ideas into a business concept and product designs, and selects which projects get funded is known as a(n):

innovation system

_____ virtual structures pertain to work arrangements that are used to coordinate the work of geographically dispersed employees working for one organization.

internal

A _____ structure combines a vertical structure with an equally strong horizontal overlay.

matrix

A _____ structure combines functional and divisional chains of command to form a grid with two command structures, one shown vertically according to function, and the other shown horizontally, by product line, brand, customer group, or geographic region.

matrix

In a _____ structure, the company assembles product parts, components, or modules provided by external contractors.

modular

A(n) ______ system depends on constant interaction with the environment for survival.

open

Organizations defined by an _____ approach tend to have hollow, modular, or virtual structures.

open

A flexible network of multitalented individuals who perform a variety of tasks is known as a(n) _____ organization.

organic

A system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons is known as a(n):

organization

When deciding on organizational design _____ and goals aid a firm in deciding how it will compete, and _______ enables products and services to be created and distributed.

strategy; technology

Organizations defined by a _____ approach tend to have functional, divisional, and/or matrix structures

traditional

A _____ structure is one whose members are geographically apart, usually working with e-mail and other forms of information technology, yet which generally appears to customers as a single, unified organization with a real physical location.

virtual