Management Chapter 10

Which of the following is NOT included among Woodward's three basic types of production technology?

Technically complex production

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the team approach?

A large amount of time is devoted to meetings, thus increasing coordination time.

Kai works for a company whose main strategic goal is one of differentiation. The organization atmosphere values innovation and flexibility. Which of the following best fits with the description of Kai's company?

An organic system with horizontal teams

Departmental employees are expected to acknowledge their manager Skylar's authority. Which of the following characteristics would NOT be found among those expectations?

Authority is the duty to perform the task or activity as assigned.

Darian reports to a manager who oversees all the company's divisions in India. She also reports to the matrix boss who oversees the insurance products division. Which of the following statements would NOT apply to Darian's situation?

Dual lines of authority can be confusing, but after managers learn to use this structure, the matrix provides excellent coordination simultaneously for each geographic region and each product line.

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the divisional structure?

Efficiency and economies of scale are often compromised when each division has its own functional departments.

Which of the following two characteristics define service technology?

Intangible output and direct contact with customers

Which of the following is an advantage of the virtual network structural approach?

It can draw on expertise worldwide.

Kell would like to build relational coordination into the fabric of the organization. Which of the following statements best expresses what relational coordination looks like?

Managers resolve cross-departmental conflicts based on shared goals rather than emphasizing goals of their separate departments.

Nicky owns a large high-tech company. Because of the complex, rapidly changing environment in which the organization finds itself, it needs to be flexible, innovative, and adaptable. Which of the following approaches to structure would offer the greatest flexibility and adaptability?

Matrix

Terry has strong feelings about the unity of command principle within an organization's structure. Which of the following structures is least likely to follow this principle?

Matrix

Which of the following statements is NOT part of the definition of organizational structure?

Organizational structure is the creation of a shared culture and values that communicates goals and infuses employees with the desire to perform at a high level.

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the functional structure?

Separating people into distinct departments shrinks communication and coordination across functions, deterring response to environmental changes.

Which of the following statements about the divisional structure is true?

Sometimes called a product structure or program structure, with this structure diverse departments are brought together to produce a single organizational output, whether product or service.

Which of the following statements is NOT descriptive of a network structure?

Stronger boundaries reduce uncertainty and ease the demands on managers for defining shared goals and managing relationships so that everything functions as intended.

Which of the following statements about coordination is correct?

Without coordination, a company's left hand will not act in concert with the right, causing problems and conflicts.

Decentralizing decision making, breaking down the barriers between functions, and linking employees directly with customers through a team-based approach enables companies to respond extremely quickly to changing consumer demands and market needs. This trend moves companies toward a:

bossless workplace.

Dale, who manages the marketing department, and Jess, who manages the sales department, work together, along with people from their departments, to produce effective marketing campaigns and related sales strategies to achieve sales goals for the company. Their joint efforts are known as:

collaboration.

Teagan manages a production department. Operators within the department simply read dials, fix machines that break down, and manage the production process that has no starting and stopping. Teagan manages a:

continuous process production.

Kelson is a communications expert who works for a manufacturing company. He meets regularly with coworkers from various other functions in the company to address issues and problems as they arise. Kelson is a member of a:

cross-functional team.

In order to provide maximum flexibility to meet customer needs and adapt to shifts in the environment, most organizations today encourage managers to:

delegate authority to the lowest possible level.

Harper manages the department that bottles the various kinds of beer at Northwoods Brewery. Employees have a specific task: loading the bottles, supervising the fill function, supervising the capping function, filling the label machine, and boxing the filled and capped bottles. Each of the individuals is part of the bottling line's:

division of labor.

The term self-contained unit structure—bringing diverse departments together to produce a single organizational output—is sometimes used to describe the:

divisional structure.

Forces that come from the outside and affect organization structure include:

environmental conditions.

The virtual network approach to departmentalization:

extends the idea of horizontal coordination and collaboration beyond the boundaries of the organization.

At Aran's company, the organization structure groups positions into departments based on similar skills, expertise, work activities, and resource use. This type of structure is known as:

functional structure.

Dechen's company has three divisions, one for North America, one for Europe, and one for east Asia. The company uses a:

geographic-based structure.

If Jordan wants to avoid duplication of activities among various business divisions, she would choose:

greater centralization.

When considering the relationship between manufacturing technology and organizational structure, it is important to note that small-batch production generally has _____ centralization, _____ technical complexity, and a(n) _____ overall structure.

low; low; organic

Kelsey spends time working with both a functional and a divisional senior manager to reach joint decisions. Kelsey depends on excellent human relations skills with which to confront these managers and resolve conflicts. These managers are:

matrix bosses.

With regard to structural responses to strategy and the environment, goals of efficiency and a stable environment are associated with a _____ system, whereas goals that include innovation in a rapidly changing environment are more appropriate in a(n) _____ system.

mechanistic; organic

When faced with whether to design a structure that emphasizes the formal, vertical hierarchy or one with an emphasis on horizontal communication and collaboration, a manager would consider all of the following factors EXCEPT:

organization debt.

A corn processing plant is adding a new building for starch conversion processes. Coordinating the construction of the building and its integration into the functioning of the company has been assigned to Mason. His position is located outside the departments and is responsible for coordinating several departments to achieve desired project outcomes. Mason's job title is:

project manager.

Leigh is working to flatten out the structure of the organization by introducing horizontal teams. The goal of the teams is to help the organization achieve dramatic improvements in the company's costs and product quality. Leigh is engaged in:

re-engineering.

A top leader's function in a matrix structure would include all of the following EXCEPT:

report to two supervisors simultaneously.

Brett manages a group of couriers in a large city. About 100 couriers deliver as many as 900 packages or documents each day. Brett's package delivery and courier business is based on:

service technology.

Shawn manages a number of employees in a marketing consulting firm. She works closely with each of these employees in providing superior service and meeting clients' needs. To be effective, Shawn's span of management should be:

small.

Adrian manages the payroll function for his company. He advises other managers about ranges for pay raises for employees and changes in various benefits offered by the company. In this role, Adrian exercises:

staff authority.

Peyton works in a company that has many levels of hierarchy. His span of control is fairly narrow. He works in a:

tall structure.

A large fire broke out in the main warehouse at Jules's company. No one was hurt, but the fire did a lot of damage. To deal with the questions from suppliers, customers, and employees, Jules set up a _____ with members from various departments across the company to address important issues and make immediate plans for moving forward.

task force

Manufacturing technologies differ in terms of _____, which refers to the degree to which complicated machinery is involved in the production process to the exclusion of people; therefore, a continuous process would be _____ in this category.

technical complexity; high

As a strategic manager in a manufacturing company, Nicanor knows that making structural decisions must take into consideration pressures from the bottom up. These pressures would include:

technology and work processes.

The primary difference between divisional and functional structures is that in a divisional structure:

the chain of command from each function converges lower in the hierarchy.

As a member of a permanent team at a cement manufacturing company, Shelby is constantly wary of allowing teams to cause too much decentralization. If teams and team members do not see the big picture of the corporation:

they may make decisions that are good for their group but bad for the organization as a whole.

Managers resolve cross-departmental conflicts based on shared goals rather than emphasizing goals of their separate departments.

two-boss employee.

Though the _____, a firm subcontracts most of its major functions to separate companies and coordinates their activities from a small organization at headquarters.

virtual network structure

Which of the following statements about centralization versus decentralization is true?

Managers should diagnose the organizational situation and select the decision-making level that will best meet the organization's needs.

Greer manages a company that has functioned effectively with a vertical functional structure because the environment has always been stable, but changes in that environment and the accompanying rapid changes have made the functional structure inadequate. Which of the following courses of action should Greer take to make the company more responsive to the rapidly changing demands in the environment?

All of these answers are correct.