ITM Chap 3

Question 1

Technical definition of organization

Answer 1

A stable, formal social structure that takes resources from the environment and processes them to produce outputs / formal legal entity / Social structure

Question 2

Behavioural definition of organizations

Answer 2

emphasizes group relationships, values, and structures / A collection of rights, privileges, obligations, and responsibilities that is delicately balanced over a period of time through conflict and conflict resolution

Question 3

Routines or Standard Operating Procedures

Answer 3

precise rules, procedures, and practices that have been developed to cope with virtually all expected situations

Question 4

Business process

Answer 4

Collection of Routines

Question 5

Business firm

Answer 5

Collection of business processes

Question 6

Organizational Environment

Answer 6

• Government
• Competitors
• Customers
• Financial institution
• Culture
• Knowledge
• Technology

Question 7

Disruptive Technologies

Answer 7

substitute products that perform as well as or better (often much better) than anything currently produced

Question 8

5 Organizational Structure

Answer 8

• Entrepreneurial structure
• Machine bureaucracy
• Divisionalized bureaucracy
• Professional bureaucracy
• Adhocracy

Question 9

Entrepreneurial structure

Answer 9

Young, small firm in a fast-changing environment. It has
a simple structure and is managed by an entrepreneur serving as its single chief executive officer

Question 10

Machine Bureaucracy

Answer 10

Large bureaucracy existing in a slowly changing environment, producing standard products. It is dominated by a centralized management team and centralized decision making.

Question 11

Divisionalized Bureaucracy

Answer 11

Combination of multiple machine bureaucracies, each producing a different product or service, all topped by one central headquarters

Question 12

Professional Bureaucracy

Answer 12

Knowledge-based organization in which goods and services depend on the expertise and knowledge of professionals. Dominated by department heads with weak centralized authority

Question 13

Adhocracy

Answer 13

Task force organization that must respond to rapidly
changing environments. Consists of large groups of
specialists organized into short-lived multidisciplinary
teams and has weak central management

Question 14

Transaction Cost Theory

Answer 14

Frms and individuals seek to economize on transaction costs, much as they do on production costs. Traditionally, firms have tried to reduce transaction costs through vertical integration, by getting bigger

Question 15

Agent Theory

Answer 15

Economic theory that views the firm as a nexus of contracts among self-interested individuals who must be supervised and managed (principal / agent theory)

Question 16

IT flattens organizations

behavioural theory

Answer 16

IT facilitates flattening of hierarchies by broadening the distribution of information to empower lower-level
employees and increase management efficiency

Question 17

IT flattens organizations

Postindustrial Theory

Answer 17

Authority increasingly relies on knowledge and competence, and not merely on formal positions. Hence, the shape of organizations flattens, because professional workers tend to be self-managing, and decision making should become more decentralized

Question 18

Organizational resistance to change

Answer 18

In this model, the only way to bring about change is to change the technology, tasks, structure, and people simultaneously

Question 19

The Internet and Organizations

Answer 19

The Internet increases the accessibility, storage, and distribution of information and knowledge for organizations

Question 20

6 central organizational factors to concider

Answer 20

• The environment in which the organization must function
• The structure of the organization: hierarchy, specialization, routines, and business
  processes
• The organization’s culture and politics
• The type of organization and its style of leadership
• The principal interest groups affected by the system and the attitudes of workers who will be using the system
• The kinds of tasks, decisions, and business processes that the information system is designed to assist

Question 21

Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

Answer 21

Question 22

Value Chain Model

Answer 22

Model that highlights the primary or support activities that add a margin of value to a firm’s products or services where information systems can best be applied to achieve a competitive advantage

Question 23

Primary Activities

Answer 23

Most directly related to the production and distribution of
the firm’s products and services, which create value for the custome. Includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales and marketing, and service

Question 24

Support Activities

Answer 24

make the delivery of the primary activities possible and consist of organization infrastructure (administration and management), human resources (employee recruiting, hiring, and training), technology (improving products and the production process), and procurement (purchasing input)

Question 25

Benchmarking

Answer 25

comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes against strict standards and then measuring performance against those standards

Question 26

Best Practices

Answer 26

The most successful solutions or problem-solving methods for consistently and effectively achieving a business objective

Question 27

Value Web

Answer 27

Customer-driven network of independent firms who use information technology to coordinate their value chains to collectively produce a product or service for a market

Question 28

Synergies

Answer 28

The idea of synergies is that when the output of some units can be used as inputs to other units, or two organizations pool markets and expertise, these relationships lower costs and generate profits

Question 29

Core Competency

Answer 29

An activity for which a firm is a world-class leader. In general, it relies on knowledge that is gained over many years of practical field experience with a technology

Question 30

Virtua Company / Virtual Organization

Answer 30

uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas, enabling it to ally with other companies to create and distribute products and services without being limited
by traditional organizational boundaries or physical locations

Question 31

Business Ecosystem

Answer 31

Loosely coupled but interdependent networks of suppliers, distributors, outsourcing firms, transportation service
firms, and technology manufacturers

Question 32

Strategic Transition

Answer 32

A movement between levels of sociotechnical systems