Chapter 10
Theresa works in an organization where coordination across organizational units is poor and the units perceived themselves to be in competition with one another for organizational resources. These characteristics are consistent with which of the following structures?
A divisional structure
Which of the following is an incorrect fit in a stable organizational environment?
A horizontal structure
Which of the following structures is an incorrect fit in an unstable organizational environment?
A vertical structure
Boars' Nest Distributors is continually hampered by an inability to adapt to an unstable environment. Which of the following is a plausible explanation as to why?
Boars' Nest uses a vertical structure.
____ means that decision authority is located near the ____ of the organization.
Centralization, top
In times of crisis or risk of company failure, authority should be:
Centralized at the top
Shoshanna is manager of a customer service firm where she oversees five subordinates. To help her subordinates learn more about the different roles within the company, Shoshanna regularly assigns them tasks that are not part of their normal routine. This is an example of:
Delegation
Organizations such as Amazon.com, Google, Facebook, and Priceline.com are examples of firms that are based on:
Digital technology
____ is also referred to as work specialization.
Division of labor
Which of the following structures is most consistent with a strategy of stability?
Functional structure
_________ refers to the fact that services are perishable and cannot be stored in inventory.
Intangible output
Which of the following happens as organizations grow?
Managers have to find ways to tie different departments
Swift Move Facilities manufacturers two different bicycle models. The company produces a high volume of products using standardized production runs. The company does very little product customization. Swift Move uses what type of technology structure?
Mass production
Which of the following organizations have a flat structure compared to others?
Organization B with three hierarchical levels
Which of the following characteristics distinguishes authority?
Subordinates accept it.
Which of the following factors is NOT associated with larger span of control?
Subordinates are located at various different locations.
Jacob, a customer service representative for AB Retailers, has seven levels of management between himself and the company's CEO. In contrast, his friend Rhonda, a customer service representative for YZ Retailers, has only four levels of management between her and the company CEO. Compared to YZ, Jacob's company has what type of organizational structure?
Tall
Which of the following refers to the number of employees reporting to a supervisor?
The span of management
____ is an organization structure that divides the major functions of the organization into separate companies and coordinates their activities from a small headquarters organization.
The virtual network approach
____ is an organization structure that divides the major functions of the organization into separate companies.
The virtual network approach
Juan is a top manager at I.F.L., a matrix organization. He oversees both the product and functional chains of command, and is responsible for maintaining a power balance between the two sides of the matrix. Juan is a(n):
Top leader
The matrix structure violates which of the following principles of management?
Unity of command
____ means that each employee is held accountable to only one supervisor.
Unity of command
How does managerial authority flow through the organizational hierarchy?
Vertically
____ is the trend in recent years.
Wider spans of management
Barney and Betty work at Mountain Peak, Inc. Although they both work on the assembly line, they have the authority to make many decisions about their job. Mountain Peak can be said to have
a high degree of decentralization.
Jacob was recently looking at his company's organization chart in an attempt to discover who reports to whom. Jacob is studying his organization's
chain of command.
Unity of command and the scalar principle are both closely related to the
chain of command.
The outcome of information and cooperation is
coordination.
Change and uncertainty in the environment are usually associated with
decentralization.
The use of teams may lead to too much
decentralization.
Gina wishes to transfer authority and responsibility to her subordinates. This process is known as
delegation.
According to your text, in very large companies, a
divisional structure is essential.
Louise works in the manufacturing department at Ice Sculptures. The work in Louise's department is low in task specialization. As a result, Louise
does a variety of tasks and activities.
When work specialization is extensive
employees perform a single task.
Relative to the functional structure, the divisional structure
encourages decentralization.
The pure functional structure does not enable the organization to be
flexible.
Organization structure is defined as the
framework in which the organization defined how tasks are divided, resources are deployed, and departments are coordinated
Organ Rentals Corporation has been having numerous problems. Communication across departments is poor and decisions are backing up at the top of the organization. Organ Rentals uses a ____ structure.
functional
All functions in a specific country or region report to the same division manager in ____ divisions.
geographic-based
Makai's Marketing Mix (MMM) does not use its resources wisely. The employees at MMM spend too much time in meetings and not enough time focusing on the task at hand. MMM's management should consider changing the organizational structure from ____ to ____.
horizontal, vertical
In the ____ approach, a manufacturing company uses outside suppliers to provide entire chunks of a product, which are then assembled into a final product by a handful of workers.
modular
Relative to a flat organizational structure, a tall structure has a ____ span of management and ____ hierarchical levels.
narrow, more
The ____________ delineates the chain of command, indicates departmental tasks and how they fit together, and provides order and logic for the organization.
organizational chart
A(n) ____ is responsible for coordinating the activities of several departments.
project manager
An advantage of functional structures is the
resulting economies of scale.
____ departments include all of those that provide specialized skills in support of ____ departments.
staff;line
Marissa was recently assigned to a committee whose task is to research new product opportunities. Once this group generates a list of six or seven viable options, it will be disbanded. This group is also known as a
task force.
A task force is a ____ committee formed to solve a specific problem.
temporary
Typically, project managers have authority over ____ but not over ____ assigned to it.
the project, people
Coordination is defined as
the quality of collaboration across departments.
Which of the following is(are) an advantage of team structure?
-Increased barriers among departments -Unplanned decentralization -Time and resources spent on meetings -Less response time, quicker decisions
In the ________ structure, the organization is viewed as a central hub surrounded by a network of outside specialists which are sometimes spread all over the world.
virtual network
Walt works for a large company. Recently, his organization began to contract out such functions as training, engineering, and computer service. This approach is consistent with a
virtual network structure
Which of the following typically is NOT considered a staff department?
Manufacturing
Which of the following refers to the deployment of organizational resources to achieve strategic goals?
Organizing
____ are brought together as a formal department in the organization.
Permanent teams
Which of the following is not an approach to structural design that reflects different uses of the chain of command?
Process approach
Lisa is responsible for coordinating the efforts of several different departments. Which of the following titles best describes her position?
Project manager
Flash Card Inc. recently underwent a significant company-wide change that involved revision of its manufacturing and leadership processes. The result of this was a stronger emphasis on horizontal coordination. This level of change is referred to as:
Reengineering
Which of the following leads to strong coordination across functional areas and greater flexibility in responding to changes in the environments?
Reengineering
Which of the following is a contemporary approach to structural design in departmentalization?
Teams
The people with authority and responsibility are subject to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command. This is called
accountability.
the organization chart
bot shows the characteristics of the organizations vertical structure and is a visual representation of the organization's structure
In a ____________ organization, the entire work flow is mechanized in a sophisticated and complex form of production technology.
continuous process production
Self-contained unit structure is a term used for
divisional structure.
A pure functional structure is most appropriate for achieving
internal efficiency goals.
Which department performs tasks that reflect the organization's primary goals and mission?
line
A formal chain of command for both functional and divisional relationships is provided by the ____ approach to structure.
matrix
Traditionally, a span of management of about ____ has been recommended.
seven
In __________ production, firms produce goods in batches of one or a few products designed to customer specification.
small batch
Organizational structure includes which of these?
-The set of formal tasks assigned to individuals -the set of formal tasks assigned to departments -the design of systems to ensure effective coordination of employees across departments -formal reporting relationships
Disadvantages of the virtual network approach include
-a lack of hands-on control. -the possibility of losing an important part of the organization. -weakened employee loyalty.
When the organization is structured along ____ lines, coordination is required.
-functional -divisional -team
Advantages of the matrix structure include
-it increases employee participation. -it makes efficient use of human resources. -it works well in a changing environment. -it develops both general and specialist management skills.
The team approach to departmentalization is a response to
-lack of participative teams. -centralized decision-making. -the competitive global environment.
Which of the following structures works best in an uncertain organizational environment?
A horizontal structure
____ works best in a stable organizational environment.
A vertical structure
Which is an advantage of the divisional structure?
Concern for customers' needs is high
Which of the following is the basis for grouping positions into departments and departments into the total organization?
Departmentalization
Salta Communications is a global telecommunications company that has operations on four continents. The CEO's direct supervisors include VPs for the North American South American, European, and the Asian divisions. Salta can best be described as using what organizational structure?
Geographic
Dustin's subordinates are highly trained and all perform similar tasks. Brittany's subordinates are spread over two locations and she has little available in the way of support systems. Which of the following statements is most correct?
Kevin's span of management can be larger than Nichole's.
Carly's Clothes, Inc. manufactures children's clothes. Which of the following departments for Carly's Clothes can be considered a line department?
Manufacturing department
Rebecca works for a company that has clearly defined lines of authority. Each employee knows that he or she has authority and responsibility for a distinct set of tasks. Employees are also aware of the company's reporting structure as well as successive management levels all the way to the top. Rebecca's company follows which principle?
Scalar principle
____ refers to a clearly defined line of authority in the organization that includes all employees
Scalar principle
Shooting Star, Inc. has slow response to external changes, centralized decision making, and poor coordination across departments. It is likely structured
along functional lines.
Which of the following structures is the leanest of all organization forms because little supervision is required?
Virtual network approach
The formal and legitimate right of a manager to make decisions is
authority.
All of the following are the major disadvantages of the matrix structure EXCEPT
enlarged tasks for employees.
All of the following are advantages of a functional structure EXCEPT
excellent coordination between functions.
Innovative Creations Corporation is designed along functional lines. New product development is very slow and the process is plagued by many problems. One of the problems is that the people in marketing never communicate with the people in production. This is an example of poor
coordination.
An organization strives for internal efficiency with a(n) ____ strategy.
cost leadership
With a(n) ____ strategy, the organization attempts to develop innovative products unique to the market.
differentiation
Stephanie works in one of seven research and development departments at Tara's Terrace, Inc. This would suggest that Tara's Terrace has a
divisional structure.
When departments are grouped together on the basis of organizational outputs, the organization is using a
divisional structure.
The functional, ____, and ____ are traditional approaches that rely on the chain of command to define departmental groupings and reporting relationships along the hierarchy.
divisional, matrix
The biggest advantage to a virtual network approach is ____ and ____ on a global scale.
flexibility; competitiveness
Global companies often use a ____ structure to achieve simultaneous coordination of products across countries.
matrix
The ____ is the product or functional boss, who is responsible for one side of the matrix.
matrix boss
Kent works at the Tick Tock, Inc. He has two bosses, one a functional manager and the other a divisional manager. Tick Tock, Inc. has a
matrix structure.
Kara's department is made up of people with similar skills and work activities. Her organization uses the ____ approach to departmentalization.
vertical functional
According to MANAGER'S SHOPTALK in Chapter 10, all of the following are effective ways for a manager to delegate EXCEPT:
save feedback for completion of the project
All of the following are advantages of a divisional structure EXCEPT
there is little duplication of services across divisions.
Mondavi Corporation has a finance department, a marketing department, and a production department. Mondavi
uses a functional structure.
Strategy defines ___ to do (it) while organizing defines___ to do (it).
what;how
Which of the following refers to the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into individual jobs?
work specialization