Bus Func Ch 8
In order to build the next generation of gaming software, Idle Time Gaming, Inc., put together a ______________ structure. The structure consisted not only of employees but also suppliers, distributors, and customers, who joined the company experts to pursue the company's objectives.
cross-functional team Cross-functional teams consist of groups of employees who are permanent team members, each with expertise from one or more business subject areas. The teams may also consist of suppliers, distributors and customers.
The process of setting up individual departments to do specialized tasks is called:
departmentalization.
The first step in the process of organizing a business is to:
determine the work that needs to be done
Which of the following would not be used to describe a company with a positive corporate culture?
Closer supervision of employees (sign of negative corp culture)
A manager's need to exert tight controls on subordinates (span of control) is most accurately captured by which of the following statements?
Control will decrease as the manager gets to higher levels in the organization and work becomes less standardized Span of control is the optimum number of subordinates a manager supervises or should supervise. The text further explains that the number of workers supervised by one person gradually narrows at higher levels of the organization because work is less standardized and there's more need for face-to-face communication.
Due to his reputation of putting together powerful presentations, Brock was contractually hired by Robotic Life, Inc., to help this firm introduce the value of its new robotic arms and legs to high-net worth investors. Robotic Life hired Brock strictly for this special project. At this stage of its life, the firm operates as a(n) ______________, where it solicits the services of other companies on an "as needed" basis, and then releases them when the job is done.
Virtual corporation Virtual corporations are companies which partner with other business firms on an "as needed" basis. These corporations hire others for short-term assignments, and then release them when the job is completed.
ABC Company desires a successful product launch for its new product venture. Looking outside of its industry, the company solicited the advice of companies JKL and MNO, known for successful product introductions in past years. The business term used to describe the practice of looking toward others to develop a model approach is called _____________.
benchmarking
Julie recently started working at a major urban university. One of the first things her supervisor provided her with was a large white notebook that contained rules and regulations on just about every aspect of the university's business. As a recent business graduate, Julie realized that the university operated in a(n) ___________ environment.
bureaucratic
Robin Banks is a supervisor for a large, bureaucratic organization on the West Coast. According to the views of a bureaucratic organization, this means that Robin should:
do her work and let middle- and upper-level managers do the decision making Bureaucracies are organizations with many layers of managers. Workers are to do as they're told and implement the orders of their superiors.
During the past recession, Cali-Bration Company created a __________ organization, when it restructured and eliminated several middle management positions and broadened the span of control for the remaining managers. As it emerged from the recession, Cali-Bration realized that technology permitted the remaining employees to be just as responsive to customer needs as the firm was prior to restructuring.
flat A flat organization structure is one that has fewer layers of management and a broad span of control (that is, there are many people reporting to each manager). Such structures can be highly responsive to customer demands because authority and responsibility for making decisions might be given to lower-level employees.
Accountants at Idle Time Gaming, Inc., have a big job! Although they work with state-of-the-art systems that create financial statements every day, the interpretation and analysis of those statements can take several hours. The accounting department consists of financial, managerial, and tax accountants. One advantage of departmentalizing the accountants is ______________.
for efficiency, the employees can coordinate work within the function. Departmentalization has several advantages. One particular advantage is that employees with similar expertise can coordinate the work between and among themselves.
The principle of _______________ means that each person should know to whom they report, and that managers should have the right to give orders and expect others to follow.
hierarchy of authority
A.J. was a newly hired attorney for Idle Time Gaming, Inc. Even though he reported directly to the president of the company, A.J. noticed that the president always had time to converse with the director of sales, calling on him to get a pulse on legal/regulatory issues that, as the company attorney, A.J. could have probably handled. A.J. also noted that the HR manager's administrative assistant was the go-to person for a number of things that would make life easier at work. A.J. was recognizing the _________________ culture at Idle Time Gaming.
informal organization The informal organizations are the friendships, cliques, and lines of authority at work that form spontaneously outside the formal organization.
Even though he is not a manager, Mr. Bilko is the one to see in the company when there is something you need. He will get it quickly, and can avoid the red tape that often delays action. Mr. Bilko is also the one to see if you need advice or help. Mr. Bilko is an important member of the firm's:
informal structure The informal organizations are the friendships, cliques, and lines of authority at work that form spontaneously outside the formal organization.
A Japanese auto company recognized the quality of air-conditioning systems that a U.S. company in Indiana successfully manufactured for the U.S. auto industry. Rather than build its own, it ______________ the air-conditioning component of its models to the U.S. company, which provided several jobs for skilled tradespersons in that state.
insourcing When a foreign company hires U.S. firms to produce products, it has the opposite effect of outsourcing. We call this insourcing.
A large commercial horse farm provides jobs for over 100 employees, who care for over 300 horses of various breeds. The operation consists of traditional functional units, which include management, marketing, and finance, and 45 veterinarians that specialize in the various breeds of horses owned by the company. Although the firm operates with a CEO, COO, CFO, and a director of marketing, it relies on the veterinarians to make decisions on the appropriate care and environment for the horses. Sometimes the veterinary decisions override marketing and financial concerns even though they operate at a lower level in the organization structure. The commercial farm operates as a(n) _________ organization.
inverted In an inverted organization, decision makers are not necessarily the chief officers of the company. Specialists (in this case the veterinarians) are empowered to make the best decisions for the firm. The decisions made by these employees have the support of top management.
The evolving business environment has made ____________ a critical managerial function.
managing change
Transparency refers to ____________.
the seamless operation of organizational partners, so that each is perceived as an integral part of the operation, and appears to be part of the same company Transparency is a concept that describes a company being so open to other companies working with it that the once-solid barriers between them become see-through and electronic information is shared as if the companies were one.
ABC Company was awarded a bid to build an energy-efficient motor for a large government heating and cooling project. The requirements of the project included a timeline of one year to build and deliver the system. In order to provide a quality product and stay within the time requirements, ABC Company set up a _____________ organization, whereby employees from various functions of the business would join a team to see this project through, from start to finish. Upon completion, the team would disband and members would return to their respective functional units.
matrix In a matrix organization design, specialists from different functional units of the organization are brought together to work on specific projects but still remain part of a line-and-staff structure. A project manager can temporarily assign people from different departments to help design and market new product ideas. Members return to their functional units when the project is complete.
In order to more quickly respond to customer needs, Hewlett-Packard is changing its organizational structure to give more authority and responsibility to field managers located across the country. These managers spend time with customers and know what the customers need right away. It appears that HP is moving toward a _______________ structure.
more decentralized
In the past, the major purpose of organizational design was to facilitate the needs of management in making their job easier, rather than ___________________.
pleasing customers. In the past, management was more concerned with making management's job easier at work. Firms were organized to facilitate management's needs, rather than out of a concern for pleasing the customer.
Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe is a car company that makes four models, a hybrid sport utility, a sports car, a four-door sedan, and a compact car. Workers at Dewey basically work on only one type of vehicle, and separate marketing and product development processes are designed for each type of vehicle, to better serve the customers for each type of vehicle. Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe is departmentalized by:
product Departmentalizing by product is when a company decides to separate development and marketing processes by product. Each product has its own separate product team.
Maria Escobar works as an attorney for a large East Coast consulting firm. Maria's job is to act as an advisor to the firm's consultants, to be sure that they do not confront any legal issues when they are working at the various clients' job sites. Maria's position would be classified as a __________ position.
staff
Division of labor means ___________.
tasks are divided into areas of specialization among a group of employees Division of labor means that functions are divided into areas of specialization such as production, marketing, and finance. Although many work environments require a division of labor for efficiency, cross-functional teamwork is being given more emphasis.
Rachel planned to open a pastry shop in a resort town on the east coast. As she pondered her organizational set-up, she decided she would need four employees to specialize in the creation and production of delicate pastries, and three employees to greet, serve, and sell to customers. One or two of her workers were designated as supervisors. Another preliminary organizational decision that Rachel will most likely tackle is _______________.
the allocation of resources within her operation Structuring the organization requires the manager to make decisions on how the work will be performed—the division of labor, setting up teams and/or departments, allocating resources, and establishing procedures for meeting the business's objectives.