Organizational design is a process of specifying structural features of an organization. This process begins with:
the organization's goals
An organization chart shows:
formal lines of authority and supervisor-employee reporting relationships
The process of constructing and adjusting an organization's structure to achieve its goals is:
organizational design
The process of breaking organizational goals into tasks and dividing work is:
differentiation
The degree of differentiation most affected by employee's specialized knowledge, education, or training is:
horizontal differentiation
The thousands of State Farm Insurance Company agents' offices scattered throughout the United States are an example of:
spatial differentiation
The difference between the authority and responsibility in the organizational hierarchy is called:
vertical differentiation
In their research on differentiation, Lawrence and Lorsch found all of the following dimensions reflected differentiation except
hierarchical control
Flat organization structures are characterized by:
high ratios of employees to supervisors
Which of the following can function as a vertical and horizontal integrating device?
management information systems
Organization complexity would be considered greatest in which of the following organizations?
a university
Lawrence and Lorsch suggest that an organization's complexity should mirror:
the complexity of the environment
Complexity refers to:
the number of activities, subunits, or subsystems within the organization
As an organization increases differentiation in response to external complexity, it will need to increase efforts to:
improve and/or increase integration
The process of coordinating the different parts on an organization is:
integration
The strongest method of horizontal integration is through:
teams
Cisco Systems' organizational structure is so complex that it can take 15 minutes and a whiteboard to fully explain. John Chambers describes the benefits simply: speed, skill, and flexibility. The core "structural" unit at the heart of Chambers concept is
management team
In general, the flatter an organization the more necessary are:
integration mechanisms
A highly bureaucratized organization, such as the Social Security Administration, exhibits all of the following characteristics except:
loose controls
The extent to which work activities are defined and routinely performed the same way is known as:
standardization
The degree to which the organization has official rules, regulations, and procedures is called:
formalization
A tall hierarchy of authority is usually associated with:
centralization
The Royal Bank of Canada decided to move its loan-processing work from headquarters to branch banks in order to avoid bottlenecks. This is an example of:
decentralization
The particular grouping of activities performed by an individual or the division of labor refers to:
specialization
Span of control defines:
the number of employees a manager supervises
The FBI is in the process of a transformation from a compartmentalized, highly decentralized organization to an organization that fuses interdisciplinary experts into smoothly functioning teams. Which of the following configurations would be most appropri
Adhocracy
The faculty of a university comprises which of Mintzberg's fundamental elements of the organization?
operating core
A centralized form of organization that emphasizes the upper echelon and direct supervision under Mintzberg's configurations is:
the simple structure
A moderately decentralized form of organization that emphasizes the technical staff and standardization of work processes defines:
the machine bureaucracy
An automobile plant with routinized operating tasks should probably used what type of complementary structure?
machine
Which of the following contextual variables are LEAST controllable by the organization?
environment
NASA, which is composed of many talented experts who work in small teams on a wide range of projects, is probably organized as a(n):
adhocracy
Of the following, which is NOT a major contextual variable of organizational design?
leadership style
The most appropriate measure of organization size when considering alternative structural designs is:
number of employees
In a small organization (cafe, service station, or real estate office), supervision of employees and management control are most commonly done through:
personal observation by the manager
When examining the relationship between size and basic design dimensions, small organizations have more _____ than large organizations?
centralization
For an organization to take advantage of its larger size into the 21st century, it must become:
centerless with a global core
The tools, techniques, and actions used by an organization to transform inputs into outputs is called:
technology
According to Woodward's classification of different technologies, the technology of custom home building is:
unit or small batch in nature
Woodward's classification scheme of technology led to the conclusion that the more complex the technology, the:
more complex the administrative component of the organization needs to be
Utilizing Perrow's framework of technology, problem analyzability refers to
the amount and type of information needed to solve problems associated with the throughput
Anything outside the boundaries of an organization is considered:
the environment
Conditions that include political considerations, broad economic factors, ecological changes, sociocultural demands, and government regulation are considered to be part of the:
general environment
The part of an organization's external environment which the organization claims for itself with respect to how it fits into its relevant environments is known as the:
domain
The construct of environmental uncertainty is typically composed or assessed using which of the following set of variables?
volatility, capacity, and complexity
If an organization confronts a situation with scarce resources, large amounts of change, and many competitors, the situation would be considered one:
of high environmental uncertainty
A mechanistic structure is most reflected when:
formalization is high, specialization is high, and centralization is high
An organization with high task variability and unanalyzable problems should:
have an organic approach to structuring
An organization that faces considerable environmental uncertainty and rapid change is more likely to be successful with:
an organic structure
Which of the following statements regarding the fit between structure and relevant contextual dimensions is NOT true?
The better the fit, the more structure will determine the strategy and goals of the organization.
Which of the following statements regarding complexity and the strategic decision process is NOT true?
As complexity increases, the strategic process will be constrained by the limitations of top managers.
All of the following are forces causing managers to go beyond traditional frameworks except:
size
The manager's role in the context of shorter life cycles becomes:
one of creating congruency among various organizational design dimensions to fit continuously changing markets and locations
At Yahoo, CEO Carol Bartz inherited an organization with a complex matrix structure. The matrix structure resulted in delays in decision making along with a lack of accountability. To allow Yahoo to react to the environment in a quicker manner and quicken
added centralization with a flatter structure
The choice of structure for managing an international business is generally based on choices concerning which set of the following three factors?
level of vertical differentiation; level of horizontal differentiation; and degree of formalization, specialization, standardization, and centralization
All of the following are basic design dimensions that have been affected by advanced information technologies except:
complexity has decreased
In contrasting structural roles of managers today with managers of the future:
future managers will encourage cross-functional collaboration and team development
To meet the conflicting demands of efficiency and customization, organizations need to:
become dynamically stable
Emerging organizational structures will emphasize all of the following except:
extensive vertical differentiation
All of the following are emerging structures discussed in your textbook except:
cellular
The organization using a weblike structure where some or all of their operating functions are contracted to other organizations would be called a:
network organization
A temporary organization consisting of independent enterprises is known as:
virtual organization
Which of the following would NOT be a symptom of poor alignment between the structure and contextual variables of an organization?
high executive turnover