BUS1002 Week 5

In the management process of organising, the strategic leadership challenge is to:

• choose the best organisational form to fit the strategy and other situational demands.

• choose strategy to best fit the established organisational form.

• choose the strategy and organisational form that are easiest to implement.

• choose the organisational form that adapts the strategy to the demands of the situation.

• choose the organisational form that employees will like the best.

The __________ of the organisation represents the way the organisation is intended to function in terms of jobs, lines of authority and patterns of communication.

• informal structure

• hierarchy or authority

• management chart

• channel outline

• formal structure

The following five examples describe different types of relationships between employees in XYZ Company. Which set of relationships indicates the existence of a shadow organisation?

• Department managers report directly to the directors in charge of their division.

• An employee asks questions of an immediate supervisor, gets answers and works closely with this person.

• In one department, superior-subordinate relationships are strained. Subordinates take direction from the manager of another division.

• Members of a word processing pool provide secretarial services for all divisions on a first-come, first-served basis.

• The CEO delegates authority to division managers, division managers delegate authority to department managers, and department managers delegate authority to support staff.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the nature of functional structures?

• Members of functional departments share technical expertise, interests and responsibilities.

• Members of each function work within their areas of expertise.

• When each function does its jobs properly, the business should operate successfully.

• All of the above

• None of the above

The _________ problem refers to the lack of communication, coordination and collaborative problem solving across functions.

• horizontal silos

• vertical bugaboo

• functional chimneys

• divisional smokestack

• matrix identity

__________ are particularly appealing because they can best serve the special needs of different customer groups.

• Product structures

• Process structures

• Matrix structures

• Customer structures

• Geographical structures

Which of the following accurately describes the impact of change on organisational design?

• There is more sharing of tasks, greater emphasis on lateral communication and more teamwork.

• There is a basic shift in emphasis away from vertical or authority-driven structures to ones that are more horizontal and task-driven.

• Developments in organisational design can be framed in terms of mechanistic and organic designs.

• All of the above

• None of the above

The organisational design that is much less bureaucratic is called the __________ design.

• machine

• mechanistic

• organic

• professional

• divisional

Specialised tasks, few groups and task forces, and formal/impersonal coordination are characteristics of the __________ design.

• mechanistic

• organic

• traditional

• adaptive

• transformational

Successful organisations are often distinguished from less successful ones by:

• their use of multiple organisational forms.

• their ability to respond quickly to today's rapidly changing environment.

• how well they can control the environment.

• how fast they assimilate new technology.

• their adherence to traditional values.