Chapter 2 Key Concepts

Question 1

machine metaphor

Answer 1

an understanding of organizations that highlights the ways in which organizations are specialized, standardized, and predictable

Question 2

prescriptive theory

Answer 2

a theory that gives specific directions on how an organizational form should be created and managed

Question 3

Theory of Classical Management

Answer 3

Henri Fayol–an effective organization is highly structured and rule-guided, each individual knows where he or she fits, and employees are treated equitably and encouraged to labor strictly for the goals of the organization instead of for individual interests

Question 4

elements of management

Answer 4

five aspects of classical management theory involving tasks of managers: planning, organizing, command, coordination, and control

Question 5

principles of management

Answer 5

aspects of classical management theory that ideal with power relationships, appropriate rewards, how an organization should be put together, and proper feelings and attitudes of employees

Question 6

Theory of Bureaucracy

Answer 6

Max Weber–effective organizations should be operated through a clearly defined hierarchy, characterized by division of labor, and organized under a centralization of decision making and power

Question 7

ideal type theory

Answer 7

a theory that doesn’t advocate a particular organizational form as best but lays out the features of an idealized organization of a given type

Question 8

hierarchy

Answer 8

organization in which people or groups are ranked above one another

Question 9

division of labor

Answer 9

assigning employees to a limited number of specialized tasks

Question 10

centralization

Answer 10

managerial control over decision making and employee activities

Question 11

closed systems

Answer 11

to the farthest extent, a bureaucracy will shut itself off from outside influences in order to maintain smooth functioning

Question 12

traditional authority

Answer 12

power based on long-standing beliefs about who should have control that is vested in particular positions within an organizational hierarchy

Question 13

charismatic authority

Answer 13

power based on an individual’s personality and ability to attract and interact with followers

Question 14

rational-legal authority

Answer 14

power based on the rational application of rules developed through reliance on information and expertise

Question 15

Theory of Scientific Management

Answer 15

Frederick Taylor–highlights a clear distinction between managers and employees and focuses on the control of the individual at work

Question 16

systematic soldiering

Answer 16

social pressure among workers to keep productivity down and wages up

Question 17

time and motion studies

Answer 17

research by managers that seeks to find the most time-efficient way for employees to accomplish specific tasks

Question 18

task-related communication

Answer 18

communication about specific aspects of a job or work process

Question 19

innovation-related communication

Answer 19

communication about new ideas in the workplace

Question 20

maintenance-related communication

Answer 20

communication about social topics that maintains human relationships

Question 21

vertical flow of information

Answer 21

communicating up (and sometimes down) the organizational hierarchy, particularly in the form of orders, rules, and directives

Question 22

channels of communication

Answer 22

means through which information is communicated; face to face, writing, phone, computer, etc.

Question 23

style of communication

Answer 23

the tone or form of address in a particular communication that can range from formal and informal