International Management Chapter 15

_____ is the use of frequent human interaction to enforce control.

Personal control

In the context of communication in organizations and their subsidiaries, _____ is the process by which subsidiaries communicate and coordinate work among themselves.

horizontal coordination

_____ is control accomplished through rules and routines.

Bureaucratic control

_____ are the means by which headquarters can ensure compliance from global subsidiaries.

Control systems

Belinda is a production engineer with a transnational manufacturing company. She primarily reports to the site Director of Manufacturing in San Antonio, but also reports to the VP of Production Engineering who is located in Tokyo, Japan. Which of the following organizational structures is Belinda a part?

A matrix structure

In which of the following organizational structures does a company often designate one boss as the primary boss and the other bosses as secondary bosses?

A matrix structure

Nestlé is a company that has a multidivisional structure. In addition to a product oriented divisional structure (e.g., Nestlé Waters, Nestlé Health Science) for standardization of brands, it also is organized to allow the company to focus on the unique needs of different markets with divisions such as Americas; Asia, Oceania, and Africa; and Europe & MENA. What is the type of structure called?

A divisional structure focused by geographic region

_____ is a problem that limits a subsidiary s ability to transfer knowledge across other subsidiaries because of the inability of other subsidiaries to understand knowledge provided to them.

A foreigner problem

In the context of organizational structures, identify a difference between a functional structure and a network structure.

Coordination is hierarchical in a functional structure, whereas coordination in a network structure is in the form of cross-functional teams.

McDonalds, a leading fast-food restaurant chain, operates globally. It clearly specifies its operational routines, which include taking customers' orders, preparing food, floor arrangement and restaurant décor. This helps the restaurant chain ensure that customers in various parts of the world have similar experiences with the restaurant. Which control system has McDonalds adopted in this scenario?

Bureaucratic control

In the context of organizational structures, which of the following is an advantage of a network structure?

Collaboration occurs in an informal manner as there are no rigid hierarchies.

Canty Co. is a health hardware company. They encourage employees to share the values of the organization. By providing training and career development opportunities in a democratic-like cooperation environment, Canty facilitates increased knowledge sharing and loyalty amongst its employees. What kind of informal organizational control does this BEST represent?

Company culture

What is an organization structure based on units identified by departmental roles?

Functional structure

In the context of control systems, which of the following is a drawback of personal control?

Individual interaction is expensive.

In the context of organizational structures, which of the following statements is true of a divisional structure?

It allows a company to develop specific and unique offerings for each target group.

Which of the following BEST explains personal control?

It is a control that uses frequent human interaction to enforce control.

Which of the following is a system in which a process, product or service is divided into components that can be changed independently and then reintegrated into the system?

Modular design

_____ is control that focuses on objective performance metrics and reporting systems.

Output control

In the context of virtual organizations, which of the following statements is true of contract employees?

They are paid for the job undertaken.

Jet Blue, a U.S. based budget airline, does not perform much of its customer service functions from a physical office space. Instead, it hires workers from across the world who can work from their homes using their personal computers. These employees book flights, change itineraries, and support customer questions. Which of the following statements could be a disadvantage of Jet Blue's approach?

The company is likely to face difficulties in building a strong company culture.

Leugeot Cycles, a fictional bicycle manufacturer, uses a common modular platform, which can be configured based on consumer needs in different countries, for its bicycle models. In this scenario, which of the following statements is true based on the concept of modularity?

The company is more likely to be able to achieve economies of scale.

Of the following, which is a motivation challenge of horizontal coordination among subsidiaries where successful units may not wish to go to the effort of documenting and sharing their methods with other units?

The hoarding of expertise problem

Novotel, a global lodging service provider based in France, had set standardized rules for all its managers. In addition to manuals that outline the company s routines in detail, the managers are given scripted greetings to give to customers and scripted methods of behavior. Which of the following was likely to have resulted from this approach?

There would probably be a lack of flexible working practices

Mraz Ltd. has an organizational structure that is organized by geographical areas, for example North America, South America, East Asia, Europe, and MENA. Each region has their own departments of R&D, marketing, finance, etc.; however, they are facing budget issues as the units spend a lot of resources in ineffective coordination with one another. Of the following options, which is the BEST way for Mraz to go about changing their organizational structure?

They should centralize R&D to reduce duplication of effort, and production to reach economies of scale. They should also switch to a functional structure to maximize efficiencies in each function. These changes will allow them to increase their profitability

In the context of organizational structures, which of the following is a difference between a matrix structure and a network structure?

Unlike in a matrix structure, in a network structure, a company constantly introduces new people with new ideas into the organization.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a law that was originally established in 1977 in the United States prohibiting U.S. citizens, companies, and their entities from bribing foreign government officials to influence decisions pertaining to new business or contracts. Therefore, American companies operating on a global scale must force this compliance onto their divisions and subsidiaries around the world. This is an example of _____.

bureaucratic control

Most companies, both large and small, have a structure that is organized and identified by their functional roles, such as a Vice President of Marketing and Vice President of Finance. This type of structure is known as ________ structure.

functional

A ________ is a structure where employees have two or more reporting relationships generally to a functional manager and a product manager and in global firms often a geographic manager

matrix structure

A ________ is a structure where employees have two or more reporting relationships generally to a functional manager and a product manager and in global firms often a geographic manager.

matrix structure

Jenny is not employed as a full-time employee in a particular company. Instead, she chooses to be an outside worker who can be hired by different firms to perform specific tasks in order to broaden her experience base and build her network. She is paid solely for the job performed by her rather than a set salary. In this scenario, Jenny is NOT a(n) _____.

mercenary

Corporate culture is an extremely important aspect of companies that can be used to instill values and important processes by which that business operates. A large corporation that gets its subunits to adhere to the values of the organization exhibits

normative control.

The ________ is a motivation challenge of horizontal coordination among subsidiaries where some units are reluctant to accept ideas that they themselves did not generate.

not-invented-here problem

A _____ enables employees to coordinate and execute activities almost entirely through information technology, rather than by working in the same physical space.

virtual organization

Unlike a functional structure, a divisional structure:

organizes a company s units by the geographic region in which it operates, or the customer segments it serves.

Toyota frequently sends experts from its headquarters to its regional automotive production units. These experts are trusted employees of the company who visit global subsidiaries to interact with and enforce compliance by the units. In this scenario, Toyota appears to have adopted a(n) _____.

personal control system

Which of the following defines network structure ?

the arrangement linking a number of independent organizations involved in some common undertaking, with one firm typically in a more central role

Unlike in functional structures, in network structures, _____.

the importance of informal structures is high.