Exam 13: Designing Organizational Structures

The simple structure usually depends on _____ to coordinate work activities, so it is very difficult to operate as the company grows and becomes more complex.

Integrator roles increase informal communication as a coordinating mechanism.

When employees work in non-routine and ambiguous situations, formal hierarchy is the least time-consuming coordinating mechanism.

Explain why companies are moving away from structures that organize people around geographic clusters.

One of the defining characteristics of a matrix organizational structure is that it:

A team-based organizational structure has a:

Many of the best-performing production plants are able to widen their span of control to more than 70 employees per supervisor by:

The number of layers in an organization's hierarchy depends on the number of people employed and the average span of control.

Formalization represents the establishment of standardization as a coordinating mechanism.

Contingencies such as size, technology, and environment do not necessarily determine an organization's structure.

Coordination through formal hierarchy relies on:

An entrepreneur employs 20 people, whom he supervises personally.However, within a few years the company will likely employ over 200 people in production, sales, engineering and administration due to the growing success of the company's new products.The entrepreneur likes the current structure and wants to avoid other forms of departmentalization.Explain why the entrepreneur should consider other forms of departmentalization as the company grows larger.

A consumer products firm with a functional structure is expanding from a single product line into several diverse product groups, with most sales within one country.Which of the following should it eventually adopt to manage the new conditions most effectively?

Which form of departmentalization tends to have a very flat hierarchy, little formalization and organizes employees around work processes?

One advantage of a matrix structure is clarity of accountability.

What is a network structure? Explain.

Flatter organizational structures:

Standardizing processes is less effective for nonroutine and complex work than for routine or simple work.

A problem with the divisional structure is that it increases the risk of duplication and underutilization of resources.

Tammy Tammy recently earned her degree in nursing and has begun a career path in the surgical ward at a local hospital.Her training program consists of a year-long internship, working with senior nurses.While in school, Tammy worked in a medical lab performing routine blood tests.The lab technician job required her to take a two-week course and refer to a procedures manual for her work on a daily basis.Which coordinating mechanism was most important in Tammy's job as a lab technician?