Industrial Engineering Chapter 6 Organizing Discussion Questions You Have Begun Small But Growing Business What

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Chapter 6

Organizing

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

6-1. Q: You have begun a small but growing business. What advantages and disadvantages

should you consider before changing it from a sole proprietorship to a corporation?

6-2. Q: Select four different businesses and identify some of their “key activities” by posing

Drucker’s three questions

desirable: functional, geographical, customer, product, and process?

A: Functional departmentation is common in the small organization, where only one

manager skilled in each function is affordable, and is also used at various levels in almost

6-4. Q: Using company websites, identify at least one large company that uses each of the three

different departmentation approaches from question 6-3. Does this approach appear to make

sense for that company? Why or why not?

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6-5. Q: The chapter discusses how teams have become more virtual in recent years. Do you see

this trend continuing? Why or why not?

6-6. Q: Distinguish between functional (specialized) staff authority and traditional line authority

A: Both functional and line authority are delegated by upper management. Functional

6-7. Q: According to the Woodward and Aston studies, what conditions lead to a formalized,

standardized organizational environment?

6-8. Q: Describe from your experience or reading a temporary organization or task force formed

to accomplish some specific purpose. How was it formed, organized, and ultimately

disbanded?

6-9. Q: What changes in organization structure might you expect as a result of the information

revolution?

6-10. Q: Choose an enterprise with which you are familiar that has undergone significant recent

reorganization. Compare the new and old organizations with regard to (a) size and influence

of specialized staff, (b) management levels, (c) typical spans of control, and (d) responsibility

delegated to nonmanagerial professionals. What other changes occurred in the

reorganization?

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6-11. Q: Explain in your own words how you think virtual teams and communication technology

will impact your engineering career.