Management: A Focus on Leaders, 2e (McKee)
Chapter 9 Organizing for a Complex World: Structure and Design
1) Organizational structure refers to the way labor, communication, authority, and resources are
coordinated to accomplish goals.
2) The chain of command in an organization refers to who reports to whom.
3) Responsibility within an organization refers to the legitimate right to direct the actions of
another person.
4) A manager who is responsible for a small number of workers has a large span of leadership.
5) Decentralized decision making tends to be slower than centralized decision making.
6) A mechanistic organization tends to have more job specialization than an organic
organization.
7) An organic organization tends to be more vertical than a mechanistic organization.
8) You would expect a public relations company to be more adaptive than a manufacturing
company.
9) Starfish organizations tend to be hierarchical.
10) Spider organizations feature centralized decision making.
11) Craigslist is a good example of a spider organization.
12) A sole proprietor is personally responsible for all of his or her company’s debts.
13) A shareholder in a corporation is personally responsible for all of his or her company’s debts.
14) An owner of an LLC is always doubly-taxed on income.
15) A major benefit of clear vertical structures is that information sharing up and down the chain
of command can be efficient.
16) A team member in a matrix structure may need to report to two different bosses with
different agendas.
17) Job specialization tends to reduce tedium in the workplace for routine jobs.
18) Strategy always determines structure in an organization.
19) Accountability is an individual’s willingness to report success or failure regarding expected
job outcomes to his or her manager or other superiors in the chain of command.
20) ________ refers to the way in which an organization is set up with respect to division of
labor, who has authority, and resource allocation.
A) Organizational design
B) Organizational structure
C) Structural design
D) Structural system
21) An organization is a group of people who unite to carry out activities that are designed to
________.
A) attain goals and make a profit
B) make a profit and reward shareholders
C) improve social welfare and attain goals
D) attain goals and accomplish a mission
22) The primary function of an organizational hierarchy is to define ________.
A) formal authority
B) formal responsibility
C) informal responsibility
D) informal accountability
23) The chain of command in an organization refers to ________.
A) who reports to whom
B) who is responsible for meeting goals
C) how the organization is linked to the outside world
D) the overall leader of the organization
24) In general, individuals who are located in which part of the hierarchy have more authority?
A) top
B) bottom
C) middle
D) the outer points
25) ________ is defined as the obligation to complete a task in an organization.
A) Accountability
B) Leadership
C) Responsibility
D) Managing up
26) A manager who supervises a large number of people has a ________.
A) low span of control
B) high empowerment
C) low span of leadership
D) large span of leadership
27) Empowerment of employees tends to ________ of leadership spans in today’s workplace.
A) decrease the size
B) increase the size
C) change the quality
D) maintain the size
28) In an organization with ________ decision making, ________ make important decisions.
A) centralized; employees often
B) decentralized; managers exclusively
C) decentralized; employees seldom
D) centralized; employees seldom
29) In an organization with ________ decision making, ________ make important decisions.
A) centralized; employees exclusively
B) decentralized; managers exclusively
C) decentralized; employees often
D) centralized; employees often
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30) Which of the following is a key advantage of centralized decision making?
A) speed
B) increased employee commitment to the organization
C) more highly skilled employees
D) organization-wide consistency
31) Which of the following is a key advantage of decentralized decision making?
A) speed
B) consistency
C) clearer accountability
D) less responsibility
32) Open systems theory states that an organization and its environment ________.
A) are in constant conflict
B) constantly change one another
C) have no influence on one another
D) are never in conflict
33) A mechanistic organization is characterized by high levels of ________.
A) informality
B) nonroutine job functions
C) specialization
D) flexibility
34) An organic organization is characterized by a high level of ________.
A) formality
B) routine job functions
C) specialization
D) flexibility
35) You would expect a marketing firm to be ________ than a manufacturing firm.
A) more specialized
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B) more centralized
C) more adaptive
D) less adaptive
36) Managers who metaphorically envision their organization as a culture typically focus on
________.
A) the health and well-being of the organization
B) productivity
C) human relations
D) ethical concerns
37) Managers who metaphorically envision their organization as a machine typically focus on
________.
A) the health and well-being of the organization
B) productivity
C) human relations
D) ethical concerns
38) Companies with a traditional hierarchical structure tend to be ________ organizations.
A) spiral
B) starfish
C) spider
D) star
39) Adaptive companies with decentralized structure tend to be ________.
A) spider organizations
B) organizations with high job specialization
C) starfish organizations
D) inefficient organizations
40) A spider organization is ________, while a starfish organization is ________.
A) centralized; unified
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B) decentralized; centralized
C) decentralized; unorganized
D) centralized; decentralized
41) Which of the following is NOT considered a starfish organization?
A) Craigslist
B) Sears
C) Alcoholics Anonymous
D) Wikipedia
42) Which of the following is a starfish organization?
A) Walmart
B) Ford Motor Company
C) Chase Manhattan Bank
D) Craigslist
43) The catalyst for a starfish organization supplies ________.
A) money and support
B) technical know-how
C) mobilizing energy
D) many small, useful ideas
44) Which of the following is an NGO (non-governmental organization)?
A) Costco
B) AutoZone
C) World Wildlife Fund
D) Frank Pepe Pizzeria
45) Which of the following is a multinational corporation?
A) Google
B) Tommy’s Cab Service
C) World Wildlife Fund
D) W.W. Erickson, Electrical Contracting
46) In which legal structure for organizations are owners never responsible for the company’s
assets or debts?
A) sole proprietorship
B) partnership
C) corporation
D) LLC
47) In which legal structure for organizations are owners always responsible for the company’s
assets or debts?
A) sole proprietorship and LLC
B) partnership or LLC
C) sole proprietorship and partnership
D) sole proprietorship, partnership, and LLC
48) In which legal structure for organizations are owners sometimes responsible for the
company’s assets or debts?
A) sole proprietorship
B) S corporation
C) corporation
D) LLC
49) In which legal structure for organizations can owners not avoid double taxation?
A) S corporation
B) partnership
C) corporation
D) LLC
50) Which legal structure for organizations avoids double taxation, and has 100 or fewer
shareholders?
A) S corporation
B) partnership
C) sole proprietorship
D) corporation
51) The main advantage for an LLC is that it ________.
A) avoids liability
B) avoids double taxation
C) avoids all taxation of income under $100,000
D) allows choice of taxation classification
52) In a cross-equity alliance, ________.
A) one company takes over another
B) two companies exchange partial ownership shares
C) companies trade products but not ownership
D) two companies exchange complete ownership shares
53) Licensing involves paying a fee for the use of a company’s ________.
A) equipment
B) manufacturing plant
C) sources for raw materials
D) intellectual property
54) A company that is owned by a larger company, but operates independently, is called a
________.
A) wholly owned affiliate
B) holding company
C) sub-company
D) company property
55) What type of organizational structure is indicated by a strict chain of command?
A) horizontal
B) tall
C) slanted
D) inefficient
56) Silo mentality tends to occur in an organization with a(n) ________ structure.
A) divisional
B) fluid
C) flat
D) organic
57) Tall, hierarchical organizations are likely to have ________.
A) a high level of job specialization
B) a low level of job specialization
C) more workers who are generalists
D) fewer workers who are specialists
58) A typical problem with product departmentalization is ________.
A) redundancy
B) silo mentality
C) increased production costs
D) lack of accountability
59) In a ________ structure, a single team member is likely to report to two different bosses.
A) divisional
B) matrix
C) dimensional
D) hybrid
60) Job specialization is linked to ________.
A) managing up
B) span of control
C) division of labor
D) accountability
61) Environmental uncertainty is NOT typically caused by ________.
A) political instability
B) low levels of competition
C) social changes
D) technological changes