Exam 11: Designing Organizational Structure

Under which of the following circumstances should an organization use more decentralization?

The ________ structure is an advanced version of the matrix organization,where employees continuously work on assignments that are oriented to completion of a task.

A public service agency that has different representatives to assist businesses,families,and people with disabilities is organized by ________ departmentalization.

GM Canada produces Chevrolet and Pontiac automobiles on a standardized assembly line in its Oshawa plant.According to research,GM should use a(n)________ structure.

estructuring at Prairie Farm Equipment (Scenario) Jim Johnson is the CEO of Prairie Farm Equipment Corp, a major Canadian manufacturer. Prairie has been in business for more than 110 years and has been very profitable. Today, the company has a tall structure with formalized communication channels and rigid hierarchical relationships. All major decisions are made by Mr. Johnson. This arrangement has worked well until recently, when the company began to encounter some major global competition. Foreign companies have begun to export new, lower-priced products into the Canadian market. At the same time, foreign markets appear to be opening their doors to more Canadian products. A few days ago, one of the vice-presidents presented some exciting news about a major market opportunity overseas. Several managers were now working on an international expansion proposal to be presented at the next board meeting. As the company's strategy was beginning to change, Mr. Johnson realized that its structure would also need to change. But change how? The company was very large and used routine technology to produce its products. What should he do? -The increasingly competitive and dynamic nature of the business suggests that Prairie needs to adopt a more ________ structure.

The strength of the functional structure is that it focuses on results because managers are responsible for what happens to their products and services.

Global competition,accelerated product development by competitors,and increased demands by customers for better service have encouraged organizations to become more ________.

When cosmetics maker Estée Lauder organized its structure around its major brands,and operated each as a separate company,it was using product departmentalization.

A-1 Autobody is a small owner-operated car repair shop that employs three collision repair technicians.A-1 has a ________ structure.

Restructuring at Digital Arts (Scenario) Victor Lee is the founder and president of Digital Arts, a Vancouver-based company that makes games for popular electronic game consoles. The company has experienced tremendous growth over the years, but now Victor is concerned that the company's structure has become too tall and rigid. He explains, "Twenty years ago we started with five people and one product. Today we are a global operation with 500 people employed in six countries producing over 200 game titles." Digital Arts is currently organized into five specialized departments: product development, production, marketing, accounting, and human resources. To coordinate the workflow, many rules and regulations have been introduced. Victor now worries that the increased bureaucracy is beginning to stifle innovation. He ponders several restructuring options. -Today,Digital Arts has a ________ structure.

Another term for increased decentralization is ________.

Mechanistic organizations works best for companies whose strategy is to control costs.

In a short essay,explain centralization,decentralization,and employee empowerment.How do experts in organizational design view these concepts in today's workplace?

Restructuring at Digital Arts (Scenario) Victor Lee is the founder and president of Digital Arts, a Vancouver-based company that makes games for popular electronic game consoles. The company has experienced tremendous growth over the years, but now Victor is concerned that the company's structure has become too tall and rigid. He explains, "Twenty years ago we started with five people and one product. Today we are a global operation with 500 people employed in six countries producing over 200 game titles." Digital Arts is currently organized into five specialized departments: product development, production, marketing, accounting, and human resources. To coordinate the workflow, many rules and regulations have been introduced. Victor now worries that the increased bureaucracy is beginning to stifle innovation. He ponders several restructuring options. -Another option is to establish separate business units for each of the six countries in their global operation.Each regional manager would have strategic and operational authority over his or her unit.Digital Arts would then have a ________ structure.

Once an organization grows past a certain size,the impact of size on organization structure strengthens.

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. -The many rules and policies designed to standardize jobs relates most closely to which of the following elements of structure?

Which of the following is a strength of the divisional structure?

The trend in recent years has been toward ________ spans of control to help reduce costs and speed up decision making.

Which of the following is a strength of the functional structure?

________ departmentalization groups jobs on the basis of product flow through the organization.