OTD Chapter 5

Question 1

Two things an organization does to improve its ability to control

Answer 1

• Increase the number of managers it uses.

- Increase the number of levels in its managerial hierarchy.

Question 2

Direct supervision

Answer 2

Situation in which there is always a supervisor present. Employees receive continuous feedback and guidance.

Here, employees are unable to hide information.

Question 3

Personal-authority relationship

Answer 3

Creates and bonds people into an organization and determines how well they perform.

Question 4

Tall organization

Answer 4

An organization in which the hierarchy has many levels relative to its size.

Question 5

Flat organization

Answer 5

An organization that has few levels in its hierarchy relative to its size.

Question 6

Problems with tall hierarchies

Answer 6

• Bureaucratic costs
• Communication problems
• Motivation problems

Question 7

Distortion

Answer 7

Information becomes distorted as it flows up and down the hierarchy through many levels of management.

Here, managers can even deliberately manipulate information to promote their own interests.

Question 8

Motivation problems (explained)

Answer 8

As the number of levels in the hierarchy increases, the relatively difference in the authority possessed by managers at each level decreases, as does their area of responsibility.

Question 9

Parkinson’s Law Problem

Answer 9

Parkinson argues that the growth in number of managers and hierarchical levels is controlled by two principles:
- An official want to multiply subordinates, not rivals.
Managers value their rank/status in the hierarchy. The fewer managers at their hierarchical level, and the greater the number of managers below them, the larger is their “empire” and the higher is their status. Subordinates of the manager also want more status and focus on creating their own subordinates, leading to a hierarchy becoming taller and taller.

• An official makes work for one another.
  With more levels of hierarchy, managers must spend more time monitoring and controlling actions and behaviours of subordinates, creating unnecessary work. More managers = more work.

Question 10

Span of control

Answer 10

The number of subordinates a manager directly manages.

Question 11

Advantage horizontal differentiation

Answer 11

It avoids many of the problems of tall hierarchies because the development of numerous subunit hierarchies allows the organization to remain flat.

Question 12

Disadvantage horizontal differentiation

Answer 12

The development of divergent subunit orientations can lead to additional coordination and motivation problems.

Question 13

Bureaucracy

Answer 13

An organizational structure in which people can be held accountable for their actions because they are required to act in accordance with rules and standard operation procedures.

Question 14

Role conflict

Answer 14

When two or more people have different views of what another person should do, and as a result, make conflicting demand on the person.

Question 15

Role ambiguity

Answer 15

The uncertainty that occurs for a person whose tasks or authority are not clearly defined.

Question 16

A bureaucracy …

Answer 16

Is founded on the concept of rational-legal authority: the authority a person possesses because of his or her status in the organization.

has roles that are based on technical competence, not on social status, kinship, or heredity.

Question 17

Advantages bureaucracy

Answer 17

• It lays out the ground rules for designing an organizational hierarchy that efficiently controls interactions between organizational levels.
• It separates the position from the person.

Question 18

Disadvantages bureaucracy

Answer 18

• Over time, managers fail to control the organizational development.
• Members come to rely too much on rules and SOPs to make decisions. They become unresponsive to the needs of customers and other stakeholders.

Question 19

Management by Objectives

Answer 19

A system of evaluating subordinates on their ability to achieve specific organizational goals or performance standards and to meet operating budgets.

Question 20

Contingent workers

Answer 20

Workers who are employed for temporary periods by an organization and who receive no direct benefits such as health insurance or pensions.

Question 21

Self-managed teams

Answer 21

Work groups consisting of people who are jointly responsible for ensuring that the team accomplishes its goals and who are empires to lead themselves.

Question 22

Cross-functional teams

Answer 22

Formal work groups of employees from across an organization’s different functions that are empowered to direct and coordinate the value-creation activities necessary to complete different programs or projects.