Exam 7: Manufacturing and Service Technologies

Extend the framework of Woodward's research findings to today, adding in whatever important technology did not exist at the time she did her research.

John Davis just decided to quit his job with General Motors where he worked in an assembly plant. He is going to open his own shop that will install customized mufflers on cars. Using Woodward's framework, explain the differences in the technologies of these two types of organizations. What resulting differences in organization structure should there be?

The frequency of unexpected and novel events that occur in the conversion process refers to:

An organization's ____ is the work process that is directly related to the organization's mission.

Failing to adopt appropriate technologies to support strategy, or adopting a new technology and failing to realign strategy to match it, can lead to poor performance.

Discuss the three basic technology groups of Woodward's Study.

Job simplification means that jobs are made less difficult and with fewer tasks.

The technology employed by an oil explorer of using an "internal divining rod" to decide where to begin drilling operations would be called a(n) ____ technology.

The goal of the sociotechnical systems approach is to design the organization for:

The production of tangible outputs from service technology, rather than intangible ones from manufacturing technology, is the most obvious difference between the two technologies.

Advanced technology does not always have a positive effect on employees, but research findings in general are encouraging, suggesting that jobs for workers are enriched rather than simplified, engaging their higher mental capacities, offering opportunities for learning and growth, and providing greater job satisfaction.

The management systems in both unit-production and continuous-process technology are characterized as

The heart of ____ is not machines, but employee involvement.

____ is defined as an organization functions best only when the social and technical systems are defined to fit the needs of one another.

What is product life-cycle management (PLM)? List the three primary advantages the PLM software provides.

A mediating technology provides products or services that mediate or link clients from the external environment and, in doing so, allows each department to work independently.

Core-technology is a department work process that is important to the organization but is not directly related to its primary mission.

Describe an organization in which a mechanistic structure would be the most appropriate and explain why. Describe an organization in which an organic structure would be the most appropriate and explain why.

Which one of the following basic technology groups relies heavily on the human operator and is not highly mechanized?

A building contractor is constructing 35 "track homes" on small adjoining parcels. The crew knows that the many subcontractors must complete their work in a proper order. What is your recommendation regarding the level of coordination required?