Chapter 17

Question 1

Unity of command principle

Answer 1

Each employee should report to a single manager

Question 2

Span of control

Answer 2

Number of people reporting directly to a given manager

Question 3

Staff personnel

Answer 3

Provide research, advice, and recommendations to line managers

Question 4

What is the difference between a closed and open system?

Answer 4

• Closed system: self-sufficient entity

- Open system: organism that must constantly interact with its environment to survive; organisations are open systems

Question 5

What is a Team mental model?

Answer 5

Team member’s shared understanding and knowledge about their work environment

Question 6

What is the contingency approach to organisation design

Answer 6

Creating an effective organisation-environment fit

Question 7

What is the difference between a mechanistic and an organic organisation?

Answer 7

• Mechanistic: rigid, command-and-control bureaucracies

- Organic: fluid and flexible networks of multitalented people

Question 8

What is the Strategic constituency?

Answer 8

Any group of people with a stake in the organisation’s operation or success

Question 9

Stakeholder audit

Answer 9

Systematic identification of all parties likely to be affected by the organisation

Question 10

What are four characteristics common to all organisations?

Answer 10

• Coordination of effort (achieved through policies and rules)
• Common goal (a collective purpose)
• Division of labour (people performing separate but related tasks)
• Hierarchy of authority (chain of command)

Question 11

What are three factors that hinder an organisation’s ability to learn from success or failure?

Answer 11

• Self-serving bias
• Overconfidence
• Natural tendency of “not asking why”

Question 12

What are seven basic ways organisations are structured?

Answer 12

• Functional structures, in which work is divided according to function
• Divisional structures, in which work is divided according to product or customer type or location
• Matrix structures, with dual-reporting structures based on product and function
• Horizontally, with cross-functional teams responsible for entire processes
• Hollow organizations, which outsource functions
• Modular organizations, which outsource the production of a product’s components
• Virtual organizations, which temporarily combine the efforts of members of different companies in
  order to complete a project

Question 13

What are Bruns and Stalker’s findings regarding mechanistic and organic organisations?

Answer 13

• Mechanistic (bureaucratic, centralised): are effective in stable situations
• Organic (flexible, decentralised): are more effective in unstable situations
• Therefore, a contingency approach to organisation design is needed=create effective organisation-environment fit; structured to fit the demand of the situation

Question 14

What are four generic organisation effectiveness criteria?

Answer 14

• Goal accomplishment (satisfying stated objectives)
• Resource acquisition (gathering the necessary productive inputs)
• Internal processes (building and maintaining healthy organisational systems)
• strategic constituencies satisfaction (achieving at least minimal satisfaction for all key stakeholders)