Chapter 04

Question 1

boundary spanning roles

Answer 1

Activities that link and coordinate an organization with key elements in the external environment (p. 146)

Question 2

buffering roles

Answer 2

Activities that absorb uncertainty from the environment (p. 145)

Question 3

cooptation

Answer 3

When leaders from important sectors in the environment are made part of an organization (p. 155)

Question 4

differentiation

Answer 4

The cognitive and emotional differences among managers in various functional departments of an organization and formal structure differences among these departments (p. 147)

Question 5

direct interlock

Answer 5

A situation that occurs when a member of the board of directors of one company sits on the board of another (p. 155)

Question 6

domain

Answer 6

An organization’s chosen environmental field of activity (p. 135)

Question 7

general environment

Answer 7

Includes those sectors that may not directly affect the daily operations of a firm but will indirectly influence it (p. 137)

Question 8

green environment

Answer 8

Our natural environment (p. 135)

Question 9

indirect interlock

Answer 9

A situation that occurs when a director of one company and a director of another are both directors of a third company (p. 155)

Question 10

integration

Answer 10

The quality of collaboration between departments of an organization (p. 148)

Question 11

interlocking directorate

Answer 11

A formal linkage that occurs when a member of the board of directors of one company sits on the board of another company (p. 155)

Question 12

mechanistic

Answer 12

An organization system marked by rules, procedures, a clear hierarchy of authority, and centralized decision making (p. 149)

Question 13

organic

Answer 13

An organization system marked by free-flowing, adaptive processes, an unclear hierarchy of authority, and decentralized decision making (p. 149)

Question 14

organizational environment

Answer 14

All elements that exist outside the boundary of the organization and have the potential to affect all or part of the organization (p. 135)

Question 15

resource dependence

Answer 15

A situation in which organizations depend on the environment, but strive to acquire control over resources to minimize their dependence (p. 153)

Question 16

sectors

Answer 16

Subdivisions of the external environment that contain similar elements (p. 135)

Question 17

simple-complex dimension

Answer 17

The number and dissimilarity of external elements relevant to an organization’s operation (p. 141)

Question 18

stable-unstable dimension

Answer 18

The state of an organization’s environmental elements (p. 141)

Question 19

task environment

Answer 19

Sectors with which the organization interacts directly and that have a direct effect on the organization’s ability to achieve its goals (p. 136)

Question 20

uncertainty

Answer 20

Occurs when decision makers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors and have a difficult time predicting external changes (p. 140)