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Chapter 08 - Structuring Organizations for Today's Challenges
262. As a manager of a retail-clothing store, Lance favors detailed job descriptions, formal
rules and regulations, detailed records, and standardized procedures. He also believes that
staffing and promotion decisions should be based strictly on the qualifications of the
people under consideration. Lance's attitudes suggest that he is strongly influenced by the
ideas of:
A. Ralph Nader.
B. Max Weber.
C. Karl Marx.
D. Adam Smith.
Feedback: Max Weber emphasized detailed job descriptions, written rules and guidelines,
detailed records, consistent procedures, and staffing and promotions based on qualifications.
263. Which of the following statements would best summarize Max Weber's views on the
role of workers in an organization?
A. Workers should be empowered to do whatever it takes to satisfy the needs of customers
B. Workers will be promoted within the organization depending upon "who they know",
rather than "what they know"
C. Workers should simply follow well-defined procedures
D. Although top managers must ultimately make the decisions, workers are an important
creative resource for a firm, and top management should listen to their ideas
Feedback: Weber put a great deal of trust in management, and felt that the firm would do well
if employees simply did what they were told.
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281. Organizations that require consistent production standards to help create a high quality
public image would tend to favor:
A. centralized authority.
B. an inverted organization.
C. a high level of employee empowerment.
D. flat organizational structures.
Feedback: Centralized authority allows top management to have more control over operations
and thus results in more standardized and uniform operations.
282.
Chapter 08 - Structuring Organizations for Today's Challenges
Today's preference to flat vs. tall organization structures is mainly due to a flat
organization's ability to:
A. encourage esprit de corps among employees in various departments.
B. increase the cost of labor through economies of scale.
C. respond readily to customer demands.
D. increase sales through multiple customer contacts by several layers of management.
Feedback: Flat structures respond readily to customer demands because lower-level
employees have authority and responsibility for making decisions that affect customers.
283. Greenwave Garden Centers is a national chain of discount gardening stores. The top
management at Greenwave realizes that different regions of the United States have very
different climates and soil conditions, so they give regional managers a great deal of
freedom to decide exactly what types of plants, fertilizers, and other items to stock and
how to best market these products. Greenwave is an example of a _______________
organization.
A. bureaucratic
B. top down
C. free form
D. decentralized
Feedback: Decentralized authority occurs when decision-making authority is delegated to
lower-level managers and employees who are more familiar with local conditions than
headquarters' management could be.
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306. Which of the following positions would be classified as a staff position?
A. An assembly line worker for a major auto manufacturer
B. The chief executive officer of a small corporation
C. A sales manager for a chain of clothing stores
D. An attorney in the legal department of a manufacturing corporation
Feedback: The function of staff personnel is to provide advice and assistance to line
personnel. Since a lawyer for a manufacturing company would provide legal advice and
assistance, he or she would be serving in a staff position.
307. Which of the following is an advantage of a matrix organization structure?
A. It is much cheaper to staff than other organization models
B. It provides for efficient use of organizational resources
C. The project teams are permanent
D. It is a complex organization structure
Feedback: Matrix organizations provide for efficient use of organizational resources.
308.
Chapter 08 - Structuring Organizations for Today's Challenges
Which of the following is true of cross-functional teams?
A. Cross-functional teams are required not to share information across national boundaries
B. Employees on the teams are frustrated by organizational rules and regulations
C. Cross-functional teams work best when the voice of the customer is brought into the
organization
D. Cross-functional teams are disbanded once the current project is complete
Feedback: Cross-functional teams work best when the voice of the customer is brought into
organizations. Customer input is especially valuable to product development teams.
309. The main difference between a matrix-style organization model and a cross-functional
team is:
A. the matrix model has a limit on the number of functional units who send an expert to
join the team, whereas the cross-functional team does not.
B. the matrix model is a temporary arrangement, whereas the cross-functional team is a
more permanent arrangement.
C. the matrix model shares leadership responsibilities within the group, whereas the cross-
functional team does not.
D. the matrix model is a more permanent arrangement, whereas the cross-functional team
is a temporary arrangement.
Feedback: The matrix model is a temporary arrangement where participants report back to
their functional unit once the project is complete. The cross-functional team is a more
permanent arrangement where the same team works on several projects.
