Chapter 12—Managing Organization Design Key
1. Organizational design is the building block. Job design is how the blocks are put together.
2. The appropriate degree of specialization can vary, but not the appropriate span of management.
3. Organization design is a means to implement strategies and plans to achieve organizational goals.
4. One of the primary strengths of a bureaucratic form of organization structure is how it prevents favoritism.
5. The bureaucratic model is the model of organization design consistent with the human relations movement
that stresses attention to developing work groups and concern with interpersonal processes.
6. A strength of Likert’s System design is that it finds one best way to design an organization.
7. Orange County Choppers makes custom motorcycles. It uses continuous-process technology.
8. Woodward considered continuous-process technology simple compared to large-batch technology.
9. Exxon Mobil is an example of an organization that uses large-batch technology.
10. According to Burns and Stalker, firms that use an organic design are the most successful firms in a stable
environment.
11. A manager at Johnson & Johnson has considerable discretion over how work is performed and how
problems are solved. Johnson & Johnson is mechanistic.
12. Differentiation is the degree to which various subunits must work together in a coordinated fashion.
13. Organic organizations do not go through the organization life cycle.
14. Business-level strategies affect the design of individual businesses within the organization, but not the
overall organization.
15. Organizations that select a prospecting business strategy would want to use a bureaucratic design in order to
control the rapid changes occurring in the organization.
16. A cost leadership strategy would necessitate a centralized organization design.
17. Under the H-form arrangement, the members and units in the organization are grouped into functional
departments such as marketing and production.
18. The divisional (M-Form) design is used by an organization with a set of unrelated businesses.
19. Corporations with unrelated diversification are more likely to use M-form design.
20. The divisional (M-Form) design is based on unrelated diversification.
21. An organization that uses two overlapping bases of departmentalization has a hybrid structure.
22. The matrix organization design violates Fayol’s principle of unity of command, which states that each
subordinate should report to one and only one superior.
23. The matrix designs enhance flexibility because teams can be created, redefined, and dissolved as needed.
24. The Landon Corporation has three divisions that are very closely related and functional departments for
personnel and information systems. Landon is using a hybrid design.
25. Virtual organizations rely almost exclusively on project-type units with little or no functional authority.
26. The most important issue for international organization design is how to design the firm to most effectively
deal with international forces and compete in global markets.
27. Organization ____ refers to the manner in which an organization’s structural components are arranged to
manage the total organization.
28. Which of the following statements is NOT an accurate reflection of the relationship between organizations
and organization design?
29. The two universal approaches to organization design that represent the foundation of what we know about
organization design are
30. Weber viewed the bureaucratic form of organization as all of the following EXCEPT
31. When a patient in critical condition enters the emergency room, the skills of numerous people are geared
toward saving the individual’s life. Sometimes this isn’t possible, and as a result, the personnel look to each
other for emotional support. Subordinates and supervisors are close friends because they understand the
emotional traumas that the others have experienced. According to Weber’s bureaucratic model
32. Weber’s guidelines for bureaucratic design include
33. Employees at Blackrock had a mustache growing contest. It cost $20 to enter and $20 to be a judge. After a
month the winner was announced and the money donated to the winner’s choice of charity. Which bureaucratic
characteristic does this violate?
34. Which of the following statements does NOT describe a characteristic of Weber’s bureaucracy?
35. Employees at Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic met at a minor league baseball game to do an offsite
meeting and enjoy a relaxed, friendly environment Which bureaucratic characteristic does this violate?
36. In a bureaucracy, rules, division of labor, and hierarchies of authority
37. Which of the following statements does NOT describe a shortcoming of bureaucratic organizations?
38. A small-town police force has six patrol officers, two radio dispatch operators, two supervisors, and one
police chief. At any time, three patrol officers, one radio operator, and one supervisor are on duty. The police
chief works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because of the size of the organization, a patrol officer can expect to deal
with cases of vandalism, car theft, shoplifting, assault and battery, domestic disputes, broken traffic signals, and
auto wrecks during a typical shift. Which of the following statements describes a problem that occurs because
the police force does not use a bureaucratic organization design?
39. A System 1 organization is most like
40. The behavioral model paralleled the emergence of
41. The best-known and most important behavioral approach to organization design is
42. A System 4 design emphasizes
43. Which of the following statements comparing System 4 and Weber’s bureaucracy is MOST accurate?
44. Which of the following statements about Likert’s approach is FALSE?
45. Which of the following is NOT a process characterized by Likert?
46. Which of the following is NOT a factor in the situational view of organization design?
47. Which of the following BEST describes the situational view of organization design?
48. ____ are internal organizational factors that can influence the organization design selection.
49. Staples print shop prints whatever the customer requests. What class of technology does it use?
50. Which of the following exemplifies the definition of technology in the text?
51. With ____ technology, products are produced in small quantities and made to customers’ specifications.
52. Starbucks assembles and serves coffee and snacks. They use ____ technology.
53. Automakers build prototype vehicles first. This requires ____ technology.
54. When Kellogg’s makes cereal and cereal bars, it uses ____ technology.
55. Volkswagen makes automobiles. It uses ____ technology.
56. Which of the following industries uses large-batch technology?
57. Facebook creates social networks. It uses ____ technology.
58. Google creates web search results. It uses ____ technology.
59. According to Woodward’s findings relative to technology and organization design, the most successful
mass-production firms adopt a(n)
60. The technology that is most effective with a System 4 design is ____ technology.
61. In a stable environment organizations tend to be
62. Woodward found that successful firms employing small-batch and continuous-process technologies are
similar to which of the following organization designs?
63. Discount retailers like Michael’s rely on economies of scale. They use ____ technology.
64. As described by Burns and Stalker, mechanistic organizations are most like
65. Kansas State University operates in a relatively stable environment. According to the work of Burns and
Stalker, which form of organization design is most appropriate for the university?
66. Speedo operates in a fairly stable environment, Burns and Stalker would agree that the ____ design would
be best for Speedo.
67. Not long ago, there was no such thing as a dot-com company, but because of rapid technological evolution,
many dot-com companies have been created, have been briefly successful, and have failed in a relatively short
period. Those that have remained have had to be responsive to changes in their ever-changing external
environments. As a rule, you would expect dot-com companies to have a(n) ____ design.
68. To be successful, Glamour magazine must respond to the latest fads and inform their readers of upcoming
trends in fashion. This need for flexibility indicates that a(n) ____ design is appropriate.
69. As it was developed by Burns and Stalker, the ____ design is most like System 4.
70. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of organic organizations?
71. Lawrence and Lorsch used what two primary dimensions to characterize organizations?
72. The Siemens sectors are industry, energy, healthcare, and infrastructure and cities, which all require strong
engineering. Siemens uses related diversification. The divisions are
73. According to the work of Lawrence and Lorsch, in organization design
74. Trump Organization produces beauty pageants and builds commercial real estate. There appears to be little
need for ____ between these units.
75. The Aston studies found that as organization size increases
76. The Aston studies found basic generalizations. Which of the following is NOT one of them?