Management, 13e (Robbins)
Chapter 11 Designing Organizational – Structure Adaptive Design
1) Which of the following is an advantage of a team structure?
A) It empowers employees and makes them more involved.
B) It establishes a clear line of managerial authority.
C) It reduces the pressure on teams to perform.
D) It separates different functional groups.
2) In a ________ structure, no clear chain of command exists.
A) team
B) project
C) matrix
D) traditional
3) Which of the following is a disadvantage of a matrix structure?
A) It increases the complexity of assigning people to projects.
B) It slows down the decision-making process.
C) It reduces organizational responsiveness.
D) It leads to lower morale among team members.
4) In which of the following organizational designs is there a greater likelihood of task and
personality conflicts?
A) simple structures
B) functional structures
C) project structures
D) team structures
5) In which of the following organizational designs are employees most likely to experience
communication difficulties?
A) team structures
B) matrix structures
C) project structures
D) boundaryless structures
6) Employee empowerment is a crucial aspect of which type of organizational design?
A) bureaucratic structures
B) simple structures
C) functional structures
D) team structures
7) The ________ structure assigns specialists from different functional departments to work on
projects being led by a project manager.
A) team
B) learning
C) boundaryless
D) matrix
8) A dual chain of command is the key characteristic of the ________ structure.
A) matrix
B) project
C) team
D) virtual
9) A matrix structure violates which important element of organizational design?
A) unity of command
B) span of control
C) chain of command
D) decentralization
10) Which of the following is a characteristic of a matrix organization?
A) It conforms to the unity of command principle.
B) It consists of outside specialists who are temporarily hired to work on projects.
C) It has formal departments to which employees return after completing a project.
D) It is free of both internal and external boundaries.
11) Which of the following is a characteristic of a project structure?
A) It has no formal departments.
B) It creates a high level of team loyalty.
C) It has a rigid organizational hierarchy.
D) It has a very slow decision-making process.
12) All work in project structures is performed by ________.
A) teams
B) functions
C) outside specialists
D) informal groups
13) BarNone is an electronic engineer’s dream job. There are no departments, no chain of
command. Employees find a team working on something they find interesting and to which they
can contribute and stay with that team until the work is done then they move on to another team.
BarNone uses a ________ structure.
A) team
B) project
C) matrix
D) boundaryless
14) Which of the following organizational designs has no rigid and predefined structure?
A) matrix structures
B) boundaryless organizations
C) simple structures
D) functional organizations
15) In terms of organizational design, external boundaries refer to the boundaries that separate
________.
A) an organization’s permanent workforce from its contingent workforce
B) an organization’s top-management from its middle- and lower-management
C) an organization from its customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders
D) an organization from its divisions in other countries
16) The company is known for its auto insurance but its customers would be surprised to learn
how few regular employees the company has. Most work from home or from their own offices
and only when the insurance company has projects for them. This company is most likely a
________.
A) boundaryless organization
B) virtual organization
C) network organization
D) learning organization
17) A virtual organization ________.
A) is structurally complex
B) has a fairly large full-time workforce
C) hires outside specialists on a project basis
D) has a high degree of departmentalization
18) The management at Ranger Oil Corporation (ROC) decides to outsource functions such as
accounting, payroll, and human resources, thereby allowing ROC to focus on what they do best–
oil exploration and distribution. The management is aiming to turn ROC into a ________.
A) team organization
B) matrix organization
C) project organization
D) network organization
19) A ________ organization is an organization that has developed the capacity to continuously
acquire knowledge, adapt, and change.
A) learning
B) boundaryless
C) virtual
D) organic
20) Marvin’s employer has created a database where all the engineers can post their problems
and solutions. Product developers can access the database as can production personnel.
Marvin’s employer typifies a ________ organization.
A) boundaryless
B) virtual
C) network
D) learning
21) Which of the following is a characteristic of a learning organization?
A) contingent workforce
B) multiple structural and physical barriers
C) empowered work teams
D) several managerial roles to direct and control employees
22) Dr. Miller teaches in a major university. For course-related issues, he reports to the Dean of
the School of Business and Economics. But he also reports to the Vice-Chancellor for
Undergraduate Academic Affairs for student-specific issues. This university uses a ________.
A) project structure
B) matrix structure
C) team structure
D) network structure
23) Employee empowerment is crucial in organizations with team structures because no line of
managerial authority flows from top to bottom in such organizations.
24) In large organizations, the team structure complements what is typically a functional or
divisional structure.
25) One benefit of the matrix structure is that it creates a dual chain of command.
26) Project structures tend to be rigid organizational designs, with the departmentalization and
organizational hierarchy slowing down the decision-making process.
27) The horizontal boundaries imposed by work specialization and departmentalization are a part
of an organization’s external boundaries.
28) A virtual organization typically consists of a small core of full-time employees and outside
specialists temporarily hired as needed to work on projects.
29) A virtual organization consists of temporary workers who telecommute.
30) In a learning organization, employees continually acquire and share new knowledge and
apply that knowledge in making decisions or doing their work.
31) Describe matrix and project structures.
32) What is a boundaryless organization? What are the features of a virtual organization and a
network organization?
33) What is a learning organization? What structural characteristics do learning organizations
need?
34) In order to succeed in today’s world, organizations need to ________.
A) be more flexible in how work gets done
B) pace themselves when it comes to innovation
C) strictly follow the top-down decision-making approach
D) adopt narrowly-defined functional arrangements
35) Which of the following is true regarding the benefits of collaborative work?
A) The participants have similar views and similar goals.
B) The logistics of coordination are easily achieved.
C) It increases communication among participants.
D) It minimizes interpersonal conflicts.
36) Which of the following is a drawback of collaborative work?
A) It decreases communication and coordination among the participants.
B) It reduces the level of creativity and produces fewer ideas.
C) It can be effectively applied only to simple problems.
D) It is possible that participants may have opposing views and competing goals.
37) Which of the following is a structural option that an organization should consider for internal
collaboration?
A) joint ventures
B) communities of practice
C) open innovation
D) strategic partnerships
38) Ohm Software prompts representatives from its software development team as well as its
sales and marketing team to review and monitor the performance of its product and service
innovations. This is an example of a ________.
A) task force
B) community of practice
C) joint venture
D) cross-functional team
39) The employees of a firm’s R&D wing and sales and marketing department were asked to
form teams. Within these teams, the members from R&D were required to explain the features of
the new products in detail to the employees of the sales and marketing department. This helped
the sales and marketing team to promote the company’s products better. This an example of the
use of ________.
A) cross-functional teams
B) task forces
C) communities of practice
D) cross-cultural teams
40) A temporary committee formed to tackle a specific short-term problem affecting several
departments is known as a ________.
A) task force
B) community of practice
C) strategic partnership
D) joint venture
41) The top management have instructed Adam to put together a temporary team which will
develop new training programs for the purpose of upgrading the existing skills of the firm’s
software engineers. Adam is being asked to put together a ________.
A) task force
B) community of practice
C) contingent workforce
D) cross-cultural team
42) A task force is also called a(n) ________.
A) matrix structure
B) community of practice
C) ad hoc committee
D) strategic partnership
43) Which of the following is true regarding task forces?
A) They have a longer life span than cross-functional teams.
B) Team members are not required to perform any other tasks while serving on the task force.
C) The team takes on newer issues or problems as older ones get resolved.
D) They tackle specific short-term problems affecting several departments.
44) Consolidated Technology’s largest customer has complained again about the quality of the
parts it has received. Consolidated has asked for volunteers to participate on a problem-solving
team to find the cause and propose a solution for this ongoing problem. Consolidated is forming
a ________.
A) project team
B) team structure
C) standing committee
D) task force
45) ________ refer to groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion
about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in that area by interacting on an
ongoing basis.
A) Communities of practice
B) Project teams
C) Cross-functional communities
D) Task forces
46) The management decides to set up an online forum which will allow its software developers
to post queries and share their ideas and best practices with their peers around the world. Such
forms of collaboration are called ________.
A) strategic partnerships
B) communities of practice
C) task forces
D) cross-functional teams
47) Several neurologists were confounded by a patient’s lack of response to traditional treatment.
One of them went to a special Web site just for medical personnel to see if others had
encountered this problem and whether there was a different method to try. The neurologist was a
member of ________.
A) a project team
B) a task force
C) a community of practice
D) a virtual team