Organizational Design and Structural Configurations

Posted on Jul 17, 2026 in Other subjects

Organizational Design and Structural Specialization

  • 1. Where in the machine bureaucracy can we find the jobs with the highest horizontal and vertical specialization?
    Answer: Operating core
  • 2. Organizational design is a process that:
    Answer: It is a discretionary management process—it depends on the experience and background of the designer.
  • 3. Siemens wants to improve coordination between projects and reduce delays:
    Answer: (1) Increases decentralization toward the middle line; (2) reinforces the technostructure through process standardization; (3) expands the support staff.
  • 4. A sociogram of a company shows the:
    Answer: Informal structure.
  • 5. Carrefour operates:
    Answer: A combination of selective decentralization and parallel decentralization.
  • 6. Horizontal decentralization reaches its maximum level when:
    Answer: All members of the organization (the operating core) are involved.
  • 7. Identify three key characteristics that define any organization, and give an example of a real-world organization:
    Answer: (1) A group of people, (2) shared objectives, and (3) resources to achieve them through a defined structure. Example: A university, such as UJA.
  • 8. If we apply the “Congruence Hypothesis”:
    Answer: Reduce formalization and increase the use of mutual adjustment to gain flexibility.
  • 9. A methods analyst in an automobile factory holds a position with:
    Answer: High horizontal specialization in terms of tasks and high vertical specialization.

Coordination Mechanisms and Decentralization

  • 10. Which combination of coordination mechanisms best describes Nintendo?
    Answer: Mutual adjustment in design and standardization of processes in production.
  • 11. Marta and David:
    Answer: Horizontal enlargement without vertical enlargement.
  • 12. Select the correct option regarding liaison devices in a company:
    Answer: All are incorrect.
  • 13. It is essential for the CEO position:
    Answer: High doses of indoctrination.
  • 14. What is the difference between the flow of formal authority and the flow of work material in an automotive factory?
    Answer: Authority is purely vertical and downward; material flows horizontally through the operating core.
  • 15. The following are efficient in stable environments:
    Answer: Machine bureaucracy and professional bureaucracy.
  • 16. In a company organized around unique creative projects:
    Answer: False, because in an adhocracy, the structural force comes from multidisciplinary creative teams and lateral coordination.
  • 17. Explain how the size of an organization influences the parameter of behavior formalization:
    Answer: Hypothesis 03: The larger the organization, the greater the degree of formalization. As the number of employees and the volume of work increase, tasks become more repetitive, making it necessary to reduce variability through written rules.

Mintzberg’s Five Structural Configurations

  • 18. If the sales manager of a region must report to both the Commercial Director and the Director of Product Line ‘A’, we are facing:
    Answer: A matrix structure.
  • 19. What is the main disadvantage of grouping units by functions?
    Answer: Difficulty in coordinating the overall workflow and loss of global vision.
  • 20. What defines the technostructure as opposed to the support staff?
    Answer: The technostructure seeks to standardize the work of others.
  • 21. A company divided into semi-autonomous units by products or markets:
    Answer: Results; divisional form.
  • 22. What is the main disadvantage of grouping units by functions?
    Answer: Difficulty in coordinating the overall workflow and loss of global vision.
  • 23. In a high school:
    Answer: All answers are correct.
  • 24. What defines the technostructure as opposed to the support staff?
    Answer: The technostructure seeks to standardize the work of others, while the support staff provides services that do not directly affect the main workflow.
  • 25. What structural configuration approximates a neighborhood grocery store managed by an owner and their children?
    Answer: Simple structure.
  • 26. An organization chart shows the:
    Answer: Formal relations that exist in an organization.
  • 27. What liaison device and coordination mechanism are involved when the CEO meets with vice presidents?
    Answer: A standing committee that introduces greater mutual adjustment.
  • 28. Relate each coordination mechanism to its design parameter:
    • Standardization of values – Indoctrination
    • Standardization of skills – Training
    • Standardization of work processes – Formalization

Organizational Parts and Functional Roles

  • 29. The Production Manager in a manufacturing company belongs to:
    Answer: Middle line.
  • 30. Choose the correct answer:
    Answer: The larger the organization, the more complex its structure will be.
  • 31. Where in the professional bureaucracy are jobs most specialized by knowledge?
    Answer: Operating core.
  • 32. When the anesthetist and the surgeon work together:
    Answer: Standardization of skills.
  • 33. Choose the correct answer:
    Answer: Tall structures are characterized by having a narrow scope of control.
  • 34. Comparing administrative staff in a law firm with labor lawyers:
    Answer: Administrative staff is more vertically and horizontally specialized according to tasks than labor lawyers.
  • 35. If a Legal Office is outsourced, its members belong to:
    Answer: Support staff.
  • 36. A company with a sophisticated technical system:
    Answer: Has a greater selective decentralization toward the support staff.
  • 37. The Human Resources manager in a manufacturing company belongs to:
    Answer: Technostructure.
  • 38. In the organization as a system of regulated flows:
    Answer: Circular flows represent the decisions that can be made at each hierarchical level.
  • 39. The Factory Manager in a manufacturing company belongs to:
    Answer: Middle line.
  • 40. A construction worker occupies a job characterized by:
    Answer: Being specialized vertically and horizontally according to tasks.
  • 41. Where can we find the jobs with the lowest horizontal and vertical specialization?
    Answer: Strategic apex.
  • 42. Low vertical specialization means:
    Answer: The individual has much control over the tasks that he/she carries out.
  • 43. The main coordinating mechanism in adhocracies is:
    Answer: Mutual adjustment.
  • 44. In which configuration is the operating core the main part?
    Answer: Professional bureaucracy.
  • 45. Divisionalized structures (incorrect answer):
    Answer: Are used when there is interdependence between divisions.
  • 46. Design companies and IT solutions approximate to:
    Answer: Adhocracy.
  • 47. Flat structures are characterized by:
    Answer: Having a wide scope of control.
  • 48. Regarding linkage devices (incorrect answer):
    Answer: The liaison position has formal power over the departments it coordinates.
  • 49. The more complex the environment:
    Answer: The more organic the structure.
  • 50. Grouping by markets:
    Answer: Is more wasteful of resources than functional grouping.
  • 51. Automation in the operating core:
    Answer: Transforms a bureaucratic structure into an organic one.
  • 52. A vertically decentralized organization is represented when:
    Answer: Power is given to the line manager.