Exam 11: Designing Organizational Structure

The continuous line of authority that extends from the upper levels of management to the lowest levels of the organization is called the ________.

The purpose of organizing is to arrange and structure work to accomplish organizational goals.

A functional structure groups the work assignments of an organization by ________.

Organizational Design at Custom Leather (Scenario) Lacey has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Ltd., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded more than a decade ago with the idea that great-looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stocked leather sofas to satisfy customers' desire to receive new furniture fast, which resulted in limited colour choices and styles. Traditional sofa manufacturers produced their products in large batches on standardized assembly lines. In contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in more than 70 different colours through a select group of retail outlets. Each sofa is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within two to three weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled some of the traditional competitors to offer greater customization, thereby reducing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather's president, Miles Standish, is considering several changes to their current work processes and organizational structure. -At her first meeting with Standish,Lacey provided an overview of Custom Leather,Ltd.,which examined the relationship between a firm's ________.

Departmentalization at Art & Craft Depot (Scenario) John is president of a chain of stores called Art & Craft Depot. He is aware that the structure of his organization must change in order to compete more effectively in today's global marketplace. However, he is not sure which structure would work best for his company. His company is currently organized under the following departments: accounting, human resources, sales, purchasing, and distribution. However, there are other choices available. He has considered reorganizing around their primary product groups: silk flowers, art supplies, craft supplies, pottery, and fabric. However, equally important are the different types of clients they serve, including homemakers, artists, interior decorators, industrial display contractors, and art schools. The business is growing, and they now have stores in six provinces across Canada. Furthermore, his customers seldom shop for just one type of item. For example, a customer who buys flowers will frequently purchase a vase and other supplies that are required to create a full floral arrangement. This means that individual customers often shop in several merchandise areas of the store. -If John were able to organize their structure based on product flow they would be using ________ departmentalization.

Functional departmentalization groups jobs by ________.

A(n)________ organization is rigidly controlled and efficient.

Metro General Hospital (Scenario) Joyce is the chief administrator in charge of a department at Metro General Hospital. When she worked as a registered nurse at a smaller community hospital, Joyce enjoyed the flexible structure, minimal rules, and team approach to decision making by nurses, administrators, and doctors. However, the situation at Metro is different. Metro has a tall, rigid structure with many rules and procedures designed to standardize jobs and guide employee behaviour. One such rule requires that all decisions in Joyce's department must be signed off by her alone) As a result, Joyce seems to spend most of her time filling out forms and signing documents. She also feels that the numerous levels of hierarchy are unnecessary and place barriers between herself and her staff. Joyce is not exactly sure why things have to be so "organized" and is planning to talk to her boss about making some changes to increase flexibility and reduce the number of rules and procedures. -Joyce wants to convince her boss to adopt a more decentralized structure.Which of the following factors will support her argument?

Which type of environment is best for mechanistic organizations?

A cross-functional team is a group of individuals who are experts in various specialties and who work together.

Organizational Design at Custom Leather (Scenario) Lacey has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Ltd., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded more than a decade ago with the idea that great-looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stocked leather sofas to satisfy customers' desire to receive new furniture fast, which resulted in limited colour choices and styles. Traditional sofa manufacturers produced their products in large batches on standardized assembly lines. In contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in more than 70 different colours through a select group of retail outlets. Each sofa is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within two to three weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled some of the traditional competitors to offer greater customization, thereby reducing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather's president, Miles Standish, is considering several changes to their current work processes and organizational structure. -Standish is planning to double the size of his workforce to accompany an expansion in the number of retail outlets that carry Custom Leather products.Lacey tells him that he should expect the organizational design to become more ________ as a result of this change.

The degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in an organization is called ________.

An organic organization would likely be very flexible.

A company is planning to revise its organizational structure and one of the managers suggests increasing employee empowerment by giving them more decision-making authority.Which of the following,if TRUE,would support his stand?

A network organization is a small core organization that outsources major business functions.

Johnson & Johnson makes many well-known brands,including Band-Aids,Tylenol,and ACUVUE contact lenses.Their structure is organized under three sectors: consumer health,medical devices,and pharmaceuticals.They use ________ departmentalization.

In a short essay,describe the four contingency variables that should be considered in determining an appropriate structure in organizational design.

Eric the Redd (Scenario) Eric Redd graduated from college and was hired by a Canadian corporation that manufactures parts for the automotive industry. Eric noticed that the employees on the assembly line seemed bored and their motivation was low. Eric's boss decided to reorganize the workers' jobs to try to increase productivity. Eric enjoys his work assignment in the engineering department but hopes to be promoted to a management position within the next few years. -Eric's management position gives him the right to delegate work to others and expect them to complete it.This is called ________.

Organizational Design at Custom Leather (Scenario) Lacey has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Ltd., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded more than a decade ago with the idea that great-looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stocked leather sofas to satisfy customers' desire to receive new furniture fast, which resulted in limited colour choices and styles. Traditional sofa manufacturers produced their products in large batches on standardized assembly lines. In contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in more than 70 different colours through a select group of retail outlets. Each sofa is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within two to three weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled some of the traditional competitors to offer greater customization, thereby reducing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather's president, Miles Standish, is considering several changes to their current work processes and organizational structure. -Many of Custom Leather's 75 employees are highly skilled and experienced artisans.While there is a division of labour,the jobs of most production workers are not highly standardized.Management has found that employees take great pride in their craft,thus requiring minimal formal rules and little direct supervision.These traits are most typical of a(n)________ organization.

Learning organization allows employees to work together the best way they can in empowered work teams.