Chapter 6

Question 1

what are the 5 basic elements of organization

Answer 1

• job specialization
• departmentalization
• reporting relationships
• distribution of authority
• coordination

Question 2

the degree to which the overall task of the organization is broken down and divided into smaller component parts

Answer 2

job specialization

Question 3

What are the positive and negatives of Job specialization

Answer 3

Positives

• Workers can become proficient at a task
• Transfer time between tasks is decreased
• Specializes equipment can be more easily developed
• Employee replacement becomes easier

Negatives

• Employee boredom and dissatisfaction with mundane tasks
• Absenteeism rises and the quality of work suffers
• Anticipated benefits specialization does not always occur

Question 4

What are 5 alternative approaches to job specialization?

Answer 4

• job rotation
• job enlargement
• job enrichment
• job characteristics approach
• work teams

Question 5

an alternative to job specialization that involves systematically moving employees from one job to another

Answer 5

job rotation

Question 6

an alternative to job specialization that increases the total number of tasks that workers perform

Answer 6

job enlargement

Question 7

what are the disadvantages of job enlargement?

Answer 7

• Training costs usually increase
• Unions have argued that pay should increase because the worker is doing more tasks
• In many cases the work remains boring and routine even after job enlargement

Question 8

an alternative to a job specialization that attempts to increase both the number of tasks a worker does and the control the worker has over the job

Answer 8

job enrichment

Question 9

an alternative to job specialization that suggests that jobs should be diagnosed and improved along five core dimensions, taking into account both the work system and employee preferences

Answer 9

job characteristics approach

Question 10

what are the 5 core dimensions of the job characteristics approach

Answer 10

Skill variety: the number of things a person does in one job
Task identity: the extent to which the worker does a complete or identifiable portion of the total job
Task significance: the perceived importance of the task
Autonomy: the degree of control the worker has over how the work is performed
Feedback: the extent to which the worker knows how well the job is being performed

Question 11

an alternative to job specialization that allows an entire group to design the work system it will use to perform an interrelated set of tasks

Answer 11

work teams

Question 12

the process of grouping jobs according to some logical arrangement

Answer 12

departmentalization

Question 13

4 types of departmentalization

Answer 13

• functional
• product
• customer
• location

Question 14

grouping jobs involving the same or similar activities

Answer 14

functional departmentalization

Question 15

grouping activities around products or product groups

Answer 15

product departmentalization

Question 16

grouping activities to respond and interact with specific customers or customer groups

Answer 16

customer departmentalization

Question 17

grouping jobs on the basic of defined geographic sites or areas

Answer 17

location departmentalization

Question 18

a clear and distinct line of authority among the positions in an organizations

Answer 18

chain of command

Question 19

two components of chain of command

Answer 19

unity of command

scalar principle

Question 20

suggest that each person with an organization must have a clear reporting relationship to only one boss

Answer 20

unity of command

Question 21

suggests that there must be a clear and unbroken line of authority that extends from the lowest to the highest position in the organization

Answer 21

scalar principle

Question 22

the number of people who report to a particular manager

Answer 22

span of management

Question 23

power that has been legitimized by the organization

Answer 23

authority

Question 24

two main issues addresses in authority

Answer 24

delegation

decentralization/decentralization

Question 25

the process by which a manager assigns a portion of his or her total workload to others

Answer 25

delegation

Question 26

the process of systematically retaining power and authority throughout the organization to middle and lower level managers

Answer 26

decentralization

Question 27

the process of systematically retaining power and authority in the hands of higher level managers

Answer 27

centralization

Question 28

the process of linking the activities of the various departments of the organization

Answer 28

coordination

Question 29

three forms of interdependence

Answer 29

pooled sequential reciprocal

Question 30

when units operate with little interaction; their output is pooled at the organizational level

Answer 30

pooled interdependence

Question 31

when the output of one unit becomes the input for another in a sequential fashion

Answer 31

sequential interdependence

Question 32

when activities flow both ways between units

Answer 32

reciprocal interdependence

Question 33

a model of organization design based on a legitimate and formal system of authority

Answer 33

bureaucracy

Question 34

based on the assumption that the optimal design for any given organization depends on a set of relevant situational factors

Answer 34

situational view of organizational design

Question 35

4 basic factors of the situational view of organizational design

Answer 35

technology environment organizational size organizational life cycle

Question 36

conversion process used to transform inputs into outputs

Answer 36

technology

Question 37

form of technology where the product is custom-made to customer specifications or produced in small quantities

Answer 37

Unit or Small Batch Technology

Question 38

form of technology where the product is manufactured in assembly line fashion by combining component parts into another part or finished product

Answer 38

Large batch or mass production technology

Question 39

form of technology where raw materials are transformed to a finished product by a series of machine or process transformations

Answer 39

Continuous process technology

Question 40

similar to the bureaucratic model most frequently found in stable environments

Answer 40

mechanistic organization

Question 41

very flexible and informal model of organization design, most often found in unstable and unpredictable environments

Answer 41

organic organization

Question 42

extent to which the organization is broken down into subunits

Answer 42

differentiation

Question 43

degree to which the various subunits must work together in a coordinated fashion

Answer 43

integration

Question 44

total number of full time or full time equivalent employees

Answer 44

organizational size

Question 45

progression through which organizations evolve as they grow and mature

Answer 45

organizational life cycle

Question 46

based on the functional approach to departmentalization | Also known as U form (unitary)

Answer 46

functional design

Question 47

used by an organization made up of a set of unrelated businesses Also known as H form (holding)

Answer 47

conglomerate design

Question 48

based on multiple businesses in related areas operating within a larger organizational framework Also known as M form (multidivisional)

Answer 48

divisional design

Question 49

based on two overlapping bases of departmentalization

Answer 49

matrix design

Question 50

an approach to organization design that relies almost exclusively on project type teams with little or no underlying hierarchy

Answer 50

team organization

Question 51

one that has little or no formal structure

Answer 51

virtual organization

Question 52

one that works to facilitate the lifelong learning and personal development of all its employees while continually transforming itself to respond to changing demands and needs

Answer 52

learning organization