Strategic Management

A firm's _____ determines how the work efforts of individuals and teams are orchestrated and how resources are distributed.

C. structure Some of the key decisions managers must make when designing effective organizations pertain to the firm's organizational structure. That structure determines how the work efforts of individuals and teams are orchestrated and how resources are distributed.

What most likely happens when a firm optimizes its organizational structure to its current situation?

A. It plants the seed of subsequent failure: the tightly coupled system can break apart when internal or external pressures occur.

To maintain its core competency of providing a superior customer experience in the face of explosive growth, Zappos split the organization into 10 standalone units. Which of the following does this scenario best illustrate?

A. how an organization accommodates strategy implementation through a flexible organizational structure

Organizational design is

A. the process of creating, implementing, and modifying the structure of an organization.

Which of the following real-world scenarios best exemplifies formalization?

B. McDonald's use of standard operating procedures across the world McDonald's use of standard operating procedures across the world best exemplifies formalization. Formalization captures the extent to which employee behavior is controlled by explicit and codified rules and procedures.

Why does strategy implementation often require changes within an organization?

B. Strategy implementation transforms strategy into actions and business models.

What was one of the reasons for Jerry Yang's failure at Yahoo?

C. Jerry's preference for obtaining consensus among his managers led to bickering and infighting. Mr. Yang was described as someone who preferred consensus among his managers to make tough strategic decisions needed to change Yahoo's structure. That preference, though, led to bickering and infighting. Jerry Yang's failure to make the necessary changes to the Internet firm's organizational structure not only led to a destruction of billions in shareholder value and thousands of layoffs, but also cost him his job.

Which of the following is an unintended side effect of a high degree of specialization in an organization?

C. reduced employee satisfaction due to repetition of tasks Specialization describes the degree to which a task is divided into separate jobs—that is, the division of labor. While a high degree of the division of labor increases productivity, it can also have unintended side effects such as reduced employee job satisfaction due to repetition of tasks.

Which of the following statements is true of strategy in an organization?

D. Organizational structure must follow strategy in order for firms to achieve superior performance. Organizational structure must follow strategy in order for firms to achieve superior performance. This tenet implies that to implement a strategy successfully, organizational design must be flexible enough to accommodate the formulated strategy and future growth and expansion.

_____ describes the degree to which a task is divided into separate jobs.

D. Specialization

Which of the following terms or phrases best characterizes Zappos' organizational structure?

D. extremely flat