Question

1) ________ departmentalization is used more in recent years to better monitor the needs of customers and to respond to changes in those needs.

a. Functional

b. Needs-based

c. Customer

d. Process

2) In recent years, there has been a movement to make organizations more flexible and responsive through ________.

a. decentralization

b. customer-based structure

c. centralization

d. alternative organizational structure

3) In describing the relationship between structure and strategy, it can be said that________.

a. strategy follows structure in smaller organizations

b. structure follows strategy

c. strategy follows structure

d. strategy and structure are always handled equally

4) Joan Woodward’s study of the relationship between technology and structure is based upon her study of small manufacturing firms in ________.

a. the south of Wales

b. France

c. southern England

d. the northeastern United States

5) In Joan Woodward’s study of the relationship between technology and structure, the structure that was the most technically complex was ________.

a. unit production

b. mass production

c. technological production

d. process production

6) The strength of a ________ structure is based on results of managers, but it has a weakness because duplication can occur easily within the organization.

a. functional

b. simple

c. divisional

d. matrix

7) What type of organizational structure is made up of autonomous, self-contained units?

a. divisional

b. bureaucratic

c. simple

d. functional

8) Researchers have concluded that the structures and strategies of organizations world-wide are ________ and the behavior within them is ________.

a. dissimilar; consistent with the individual cultures

b. dissimilar; similar

c. similar; consistent with the individual cultures

d. similar; also similar

You Can Take That to the Bank (Scenario)

Changes in banking regulations, a series of loan defaults by dotcom customers and a decline in the California real estate market have forced Western Bank, a large regional West Coast bank, to downsize in an effort to improve profitability and bolster its sagging stock price. Susan Q., a regional branch supervisor for the Sacramento district, has been tasked with preparing a management report concerning how these cuts are affecting bank operations and customer service. Susan believes that the most important problem that has emerged concerns span of control and decision-making authority within the bank. In the past, bank policy was that no manager should supervise more than six subordinates and only managers could make decisions for their individual units. However, with many of the cuts coming in middle management, upper management has increased its span of control while still insisting on managerial-only decision making at the unit level. The result is that upper managers spend all of their time putting out fires and subordinates feel they are getting answers too slowly. As a result, lower level employees are requesting greater authority to make decisions on their own. However, they are not as experienced at making decisions as upper-level managers. Susan Q believes that structural changes must be made that reflect Western Bank’s new situation.

9) Susan believes that Western Bank should be more highly adaptive and flexible. She would like Western Bank to possess more of a(n) ________ structure?

a. mechanistic

b. technological

c. formalized

d. organic

10) ________ familiarizes the employee with the goals of the work unit, clarifies how his or her job contributes to the unit goals, and includes an introduction to his or her new co-workers.

a. An assessment center

b. Procedural orientation

c. Work unit orientation

d. Organizational orientation

11) If a training event includes learning to be a better listener or learning to interact effectively with team members and customers, it is attempting to teach ________.

a. observational skills

b. problem-solving skills

c. interpersonal skills

d. technical skills

12) Skill-based pay systems rely on the employee’s job ________ to define his or her pay category.

a. performance

b. skills

c. description

d. title

13) Which of the following statements is true of current situations in human resource management?

a. Recent research has shown that diversity makes moving into a workforce harder for women and minorities.

b. To improve workforce diversity, managers need to narrow their approach to recruiting.

c. Once a diverse pool of applicants is defined, a manager does not need to address discrimination as a problem.

d. Some organizations are aggressively pursuing diversity efforts.

14) Why are workplace romances potentially problematic for organizations?

a. couples tend to act as their own team

b. flirting on the job affects productivity

c. an increased work-family life imbalance

d. the potential for sexual harassment accusations

Human Resources Selection (Scenario)

Dennis, the manager of selection in the human resources department, had been asked

by Stephen, his boss, and the vice president of human resources, to review the selection

methods their firm had been using and to recommend methods for future use. It seems

that recent hires have not been working out, and this caused friction between the human

resources group and the front-line managers, who had to utilize the talent sent to them.

Additionally, there was also a need to hire executives in the company, and due to the

responsibility these positions carry, the company wanted to ensure they selected the best

possible people. Dennis reviewed written tests as a selection method.

15) Dennis also reviewed ________, in which applicants are presented with a miniature replica of a job and are asked to perform tasks central to that job.

a. written tests

b. intelligence tests

c. work sampling

d. job-related interviews

16) Which of the following would be considered a formal group?

a. task force for employee birthday celebrations

b. bowling team

c. reading group

d. bringing people from various functions to solve a business dilemma

17) Norming occurs when ________.

a. close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness

b. individuals demonstrate their own cohesiveness

c. storming ends

d. leadership is team focused

The Retreat (Scenario)

The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to Silver Falls for their inaugural strategic

planning meeting. Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new

performance appraisal system for subordinates that will be effective and usable. Their

years of complaining about the old system had landed them with this new responsibility.

They had 4 days to become brilliant, and everyone was a little on edge. The first day, little

was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader. Finally,

Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group. By

the second day, the group seemed to begin working well. They spent the morning deciding

how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation

process. On the third and fourth days, the new managers moved amazingly quickly, with

ideas flowing freely. By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed,

and they felt satisfied. That night they all signed the new document to be presented to the

regional manager the next day. They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the

group and return to normal work life.

18) When the management group was deciding on their decision rules, they were in the

________ stage of group development.

a. forming

b. storming

c. norming

d. adjourning

The New Professor (Scenario)

Dan Powell has recently received his Ph.D. and has begun teaching at a large university. Prior to his first day of class, Dan’s department head had lunch with him and explained what was expected of a new professor in terms of maintaining discipline in his classroom, providing students with a challenging course, and keeping grades down. Later that week Dan met with other professors in a faculty meeting. During that meeting, a number of issues were discussed and, although Dan did not agree with all of them, he did not feel comfortable discussing his position because he was a new assistant professor and the others were more senior. However, in watching the reactions of other professors, he got the feeling that some of them disagreed with a few issues, too, but did not want to say anything because doing so might be disruptive.

19) In Dan’s first faculty meeting, his reluctance to say anything because he was a new professor reveals that he was conscious of his ________.

a. group

b. role

c. status

d. norms

Conflicting Opinions (Scenario)

The two vice presidents were in heated debate. Celine feels that the traditional form of marketing their company is using isn’t working any more and that loyal customers would stay regardless. She feels the company needs to “spice it up a bit” and go after new market share. Merle disagrees vehemently. He feels the company is doing fine; they have a good base of loyal customers, and new aggressive approaches may lose them without any guarantee of gaining new customers. Regardless of who is right, their battle was causing a stir in the organization. Some felt that conflict like this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and stockholders. Others felt that this conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually and may even help the company. Still others even encouraged such conflict. They think it keeps the company from getting stuck.

20) Those in the company who view the conflict over the marketing strategy as natural and inevitable have a ________ view of conflict.

a. interactionist

b. strategic

c. conservative

d. human relations

21) Lewin’s theory is consistent with which view of organizational change?

a. Mayo’s

b. “calm waters”

c. continuous

d. contemporary

22) The ________ is consistent with uncertain and dynamic environments.

a. contemporary metaphor

b. continuous metaphor

c. calm waters metaphor

d. white-water rapids metaphor

23) Managing in the dynamic, chaotic world of global competition, organizations must

create new products and services, ________.

a. and adopt state-of-the-art technology if they are to compete successfully

b. at competitive prices and in the correct location

c. and adopt teams as the best way to improve the organization

d. that offer the customer what they want

24) New Ideas, Inc., focuses on new ideas, uses technology that changes frequently, and has strong competition in the market, describes what metaphor of change?

a. a rapid water metaphor

b. a calm water metaphor

c. a white-water rapids metaphor

d. a black-water rapid metaphor

25) Which of the following statements is not true concerning the stress Fred may be feeling?

a. Job-related factors may be part of Fred’s stress.

b. Stress may come from any change in Fred’s life.

c. Stress may come from personal factors.

d. Stress is not related to personality differences.